Triple treat from Citroen

AUSTRALIAN Citroen importer Ateco Automotive came out with all guns blazing at the Melbourne show when it revealed its twin-turbo diesel C5 sedan, an automated manual C4 hatch and a heavily optioned Australian-spec C4 Picasso people-mover for the first time.

On sale now from $53,990, the single-variant C5 SX HDi Twin Turbo sedan is powered by a new 2.2-litre diesel that features a world-first (for a four-cylinder) parallel sequential dual turbo and is claimed to deliver a new level of performance (125kW and 370Nm of peak torque from 1500rpm), while slashing turbo lag, economy and emissions.

The leather-clad flagship C5 diesel sedan, which is available alongside the current 2.0-litre C5 HDi sedan ($49,990) and Estate ($51,990), sprints to 100km/h in a claimed 9.3 seconds, has a top speed of 230km/h, offers combined fuel consumption of 7.1L/100km – 1L/100km less than the 2.0 HDi – and produces CO2 emissions of 160g/km.

Meantime, the C4 HDi EGS hatch joins the C4 range at $30,990 – $1000 more than the C4 HDi manual. Its robotised manual Electronic Gearbox System adds 12kg yet is claimed to be both more economical and cleaner-burning than the manual version.

Claimed combined consumption is just 4.7L/100km (versus 4.5L), while CO2 emissions are stated at 120g/km (versus 125g). Citroen will announce C4 Picasso pricing at the official launch in April.