The new Citroën C3, launched in July 2022, is the first step in the brand's offensive in India to ensure the development of sales in this important market, which will become one of the largest in the world in the coming years. After the electric version, Citroën is continuing the development of the C3 with a surprise prototype in Bangalore, which will allow the C3 to offer a wider range.
The electric version of the C3 has been on sale since the end of February, so it is too early to know whether this version will have an impact on sales of the chevron hatchback, especially as electrification in India is still low, which would limit the impact of this version. Since its launch, the C3 has had a reduced range in India, with a 1.2 Puretech engine developing two powers and only available with a manual gearbox, the automatic not being offered.
This is a possible explanation for the surprise presence of this prototype on the streets of Bangalore, India, which shows a rather heavily camouflaged C3, whose front bumper is even completely black and therefore unpainted. This prototype could therefore have been used to test the automatic transmission on the C3 with a view to a forthcoming introduction in the range, which is destined to expand over time so that the news of the C3 is given regularly. ahead in a market fond of novelties.
The other explanation could be related to the introduction of new emission standards in India, which is causing manufacturers to configure their vehicles to meet these new standards. In this case, the C3 could be used for this type of test, although technically there is no need to camouflage a car so much. Unless, of course, the two solutions complement each other with a C3 in an automatic box configured to pass these new standards, even though there is no need for such camouflage.
The reason could therefore be quite different, mirroring other photos of C3 surprised on the road in tests and which showed a higher version equipped, in particular, with a reversing camera currently unavailable. In any case, Citroën is continuing to develop the C3 range, which is necessary in a country where competition is fierce. This will contribute to the visibility of the C3, which has been suffering in India for a few months now, with February being the worst month since Citroën sold only 328 cars, of which 324 were C3s, including 213 ëC3s. The explanation for these low sales, which are in fact the copies produced by the factory called wholesale sales, is precisely the transition to the new anti-pollution standards which came into force at the beginning of March 2023.