C4 Cactus poses Citroen design direction

With the new PSA strategy to have its DS cars spun off into a separate premium brand, the Citroen division from where they came will have more freedom to come up with exciting designs, writes Brian Byrne.

That's the view expressed by Citroen Design Director Alexandre Malval, when he was outlining the concepts behind the development of the new C4 Cactus, in Dublin yesterday. He was speaking at the Irish launch of the car.

"It's an opportunity to rediscover and reinvent our history," he said, adding that 'smooth', 'comfort', 'intuitive', 'intelligent' and 'refined' will be the foundation keywords for the Citroen brand in the future.

In the creation of the C4 Cactus, Malval said his design team had researched through structure and product design outside the automotive industry, as well as events such as the Milan Fashion Show, looking for inspiration.

"We asked the question, 'why are some products memorable because they are simple?' The first words given to the design team were that the car should be robust, pure, and light."

The result was a car 200kg lighter than the C4 hatchback, with a similar interior space, and typified by a smooth external graphic and 'memorable' interior details in a simple but high-technology ethos.

Externally the shape is softer than the more aggressive styling of many direct competitors, with unsculpted profile and doors. An intriguing feature are the 'Airbump' panels on the doors and near vulnerable elements of the front and rear. "The shape of the car was pure, and we decided that it would need protection," Malval says. "The inspiration for these came from the air bubbles in the soles of sports shoes."

The Airbumps come in black as standard, and are available in four colours. Made from polyurethane, they have been tested in multiple simulated supermarket trolley 'bashes' that showed them undamaged when unprotected doors would have had to be replaced.

Inside are design cues based on the old leather-bound trunks which people doing the grand travel thing used generations ago. With a charge that dashboard storage space should be maximised and accessible, the design engineers came up with a unique idea to put the airbags above the windscreen to allow for this.

Other elements in the C4 Cactus include the 7" touchscreen now familiar from other PSA Group brands, though set in a much-decluttered interior. There's a panoramic glass roof with a coating that gives the same UV protection as Category 4 sunglasses.

An emphasis on saving weight and being more environmentally thoughtful resulted in the in-blade screenwashers, which work so efficiently that a water reservoir of only half the normal capacity is required.

With a claim of running costs being up to 20 percent less than even its C4 hatch sibling, the Cactus offers power from even more efficient versions of the Group's 1.2 3-cylinder petrol engines, and a diesel.

The launch yesterday referenced the old Citroen 2CV of 1948, the car that arguably put ordinary French people back on the roads following the ravages of WW2. Its design brief was simple, that it should be able to carry four passengers, 50kg of cargo in the boot ... and be able to travels in the fields if necessary.

The development of C4 Cactus was done in a similar way, if leaving out the travelling in the fields requirement. It would have more design, more useful technology, and be produced with a controlled budget which made it accessible.

Alexandre Malval thinks the car launched yesterday has been delivered within these parameters. So too does Citroen Ireland MD Frederic Soulier (below on left, with the designer). Now, across Europe and in Ireland respectively, they're hoping that buyers will agree.