Citroen C5 Aircross Concept bows in Paris

Citroen has unveiled a pre-production prototype of its C5 Aircross SUV, set to go on sale in 2025 featuring a new design and a better underlying platform.

The company calls the new style “muscular” and “assertive”, but warns that it is far from final – it only serves to give us an approximate idea of the production car at this point. It looks a bit like the recently updated C3, but with lots of trim pieces that we don’t see ever going into production.

For example, there is a slight crease in the roofline near the tailgate that may be hard to reproduce en masse. The same goes for sophisticated three-piece taillights at either side and winglets at the front doors. Citroen did speak a lot about the unusually shaped headlights, calling them the company’s “new light signature”, so we may as well see them on the production car when it arrives.

The SUV is 4.65 meters (181.7 inches) long and 1.66 meters (64.9 inches) tall, being slightly larger than its predecessor on both counts. Citroen claims that, despite the somewhat boxy look, it is highly optimized in terms of aerodynamics, giving it an extra 30 km (18 miles) of electric range compared to the old design.

The new C5 Aircross will be the company’s first vehicle based on the STLA Medium platform by Stellantis. It supports all kinds of powertrains from ICE to BEV, but the specifics remain to be revealed.