Citroen DS3 Launched

Citroen has unveiled the new Citroen DS3 at Frankfurt – a car Citroen hopes will cement its newly-sought position as a maker of luxury cars.

Aimed in the firing line of the MINI and the Fiat 500, Citroen expects the DS3 to compete right across the board from space to specification.

Amazingly, the DS3 has stayed very close to the concept we saw at Geneva earlier this year. The shape has remained virtually unchanged, as has the interior and even the wheels. The DS3 gets a twin exhaust and a conventional ariel – about the only changes we can see from the concept.

The DS3 is practically the same size as Ford’s Fiesta at 3.95m long, and offers a whole host of styling options. The roof can be taken in a choice of four colours – Black, Blue, Red or White – and you can even throw a selection of graphics in to the mix. The dashboard also gets a choice of colour options and colour-coded gear knob. citroen are aiming the DS3 at ‘Funky’ and ‘Individual’.

Engine choice is three petrola and two diesels. The petrols come in either 95bhp, 120bhp or 150bhp versiuons and the diesels as 90bhp or 110bhp. All come with a manual ‘box as standard – five or six speed depending on model.

Based on the yet to be released C3, the DS3 features McPherson Strut suspension at the front and torsion beam at the back, and Citroen says the suspension has been tuned to be sportier. And Citroen are making big play of the space in the DS3, which is on a par with the Fiesta but better than either the MINI or Fiat 500, with five real seats. And they are aiming to undercut the price of the MINI when the DS3 launches in the Spring. But then they should – the MINI is far from cheap.

As an incentive to get in early, Citroen are offering 100 DS3s for pre-reg in the UK from today, with delivery in the Spring.

Update: Now the Citroen DS3 is here, we’ve added a photo gallery.

Citroen DS3 Photo Gallery