Citroen C-Cactus too radical for customers

The Citroen C-Cactus concept car will reach production in a different form, after customer clinics questioned the car’s back-to-basics interior.

Research has uncovered aspects of the car that potential buyers were not happy with. The lack of dashboard and the way its instruments are clustered around the steering column were said to be particularly off-putting. Citroen is also considering fitting electric windows instead of the concept’s wind-up units, which reduce complexity.

But Citroën boss Frederic Banzet said the production C-Cactus will still be “an essential car”. That means its feature and equipment content will be pared back to keep the price and weight down, enabling Citroën to produce a cheap, fuel-efficient car. Banzet also said that unlike the Logan - rival Renault’s stripped-down value car, which is not part of the Renault range - the C-Cactus will sit within the regular Citroen line-up. Judging by leaked photos, the car will stay true to its concept.

Citroen is also working on a C6 replacement but according to Banzet, it'll be “something different”. It will still be a flagship car, but of an as-yet-undisclosed format, though some kind of crossover seems possible. Banzet believes that Citroen needs a flagship model “to stretch our designers and engineers”, arguing that the process of its creation will benefit the development of the rest of the range.