Citroen DS3 leathers up

CITROEN has added more value to its DS3 premium light car by adding a two-tone sports leather interior for no extra cost.

The free leather interior is fitted to the top-spec DS3 DSport and features black and light cream tones on the chunky sports seats.

Citroen’s Mini rival now also comes with a driveaway price of $33,290 for a limited time, subject to availability, meaning a saving of almost $2000.

The DSport is the more performance-oriented variant in Citroen’s three-door DS3 range and is powered by the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine that propels the Mini Cooper S.

Fitted with a standard six-speed manual gearbox, Citroen’s range-topping DS3 DSport can race to 100km/h in 7.3 seconds on the way to a top speed of 214km/h.

Official combined fuel consumption is 6.7/100km while emissions are a respectable 155g/km of CO2.

Based on the C3 light car, the DS3 features distinctive styling touches, including LED daytime-running lights running down each side of the front bumper and a range of two-tone exterior colours, while Bluetooth and USB connectivity, a rear spoiler and 17-inch alloy wheels are standard features.

Other DS models offered by the French car-maker include the entry-level DS3 DStyle model from $32,990 as well as the C4-based DS4 small car.

Although DS3 sales were down slightly last month, year-to-date sales of the French hatch are up some 88 per cent over last year.

Citroen has seen a considerable increase in its overall sales this year, shifting 881 units in the first half, up 27.7 per cent over the same period in 2011.