Citroen C5 set for bold reinvention

The next Citroën C5 will not be a straight replacement for the current car, according to high-up officials within the company.

Linda Jackson, Citroën’s CEO, said the company is considering a number of alternatives for its next large family car.

“You have to look at it in a different way,” Jackson said. “What is the C5 customer going to buy? With the emergence of SUVs getting more important, what we are looking at is what that customer will want in five years’ time. I don’t think it is simply replacing the C5.”

The new car is likely to take on the more simple approach, as championed by the latest C4 Cactus and the Cactus M concept, which leaves out features that the customer doesn’t need.

“It is not about getting down to a car with nothing in it. It is about having in the car exactly what makes sense,” Jackson said.

The company will not take the same approach as the likes of budget brand Dacia, though, because Jackson said Citroën will not simply be making cars to be sold as cheaply as possible.

“Low cost is not our strategy,” she said. “Our view for Citroën is that we are right in that mainstream, and to be successful there you have to have something a bit different. You have to add value.”

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