Stylish new Berlingo

CITROEN has released first photos and details of an all-new, considerably more stylish and much bigger Berlingo van, which will go on sale in Australia from the third quarter of this year.

It will be sold alongside for some time alongside the current $15,990 1.4-litre model – which will be called Berlingo First – because the new model will be bigger and more expensive.

The new Berlingo will be joined at around the same time by the even smaller Turkish-built Citroen Nemo, which begins right-hand drive production in May.

Also in the third quarter, Citroen will start selling the bigger 2.0-litre petrol/2.2-litre diesel Dispatch van in Australia.

Sporting a C4-style family front end treatment, the new Berlingo also features prominently bulging front and rear wheelarches as well as a bulbous windscreen.

Left: Berlingo people-mover

On a more practical level, the latest generation increases load volume by 10 per cent (from 3.0 to 3.3 cubic metres) and payload by 6.2 per cent (from 800 to 850kg).

Load volume can be extended to 3.7 cubic metres with an optional ‘Extenso’ modular cabin feature that also allows a maximum load length of 3.0 metres by removing a third front seat.

Being based on the C4 Picasso people-mover platform brings to the latest Berlingo a number of benefits, such as electronic stability control, hill start assist, ABS brakes and the suspension and running gear from the C4.

Citroen claims passenger car-like levels of comfort, handling, roadholding and noise levels.

Local agent Ateco said that the vehicle has been developed mainly with a range of modern turbo-diesel engines because of a new taxing regime in Europe, but there will be a petrol version offered in Australia.

Citroen launched the Berlingo in Europe in 1996 and has since sold 1.7 million units. It has also proven popular in Australia as an urban delivery van.

A people-mover version of the new Berlingo has also been developed but Ateco is yet to decide if this will come to Australia.