Citroen C-Cactus (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

03 September 2007 06:12

Citroen C-Cactus: the lowdown

Get the prickly jokes out of the way now; Citroen is deadly serious about its new C-Cactus. Its risible name was apparently picked - groan - because it's low on consumption like the spiky desert plant... Yes, it's yet another green concept car, designed to showcase a company's commitment to saving the planet. But look past the silly name and you can see some good thinking from the Citroen design team in Paris. It all adds up to a car the same size as a C4, but capable of a parsimonious 97.4 miles on every gallon of diesel.

It certainly is. PSA is developing a hybrid system for launch in the 308/C4 by the end of the decade. And, unlike the Japanese, the French are allying their electric motors with diesel engines, not petrols. Citroen won't say yet which engine is in the 70bhp C-Cactus, but we suspect it's the 1.4. Previous concepts have used the 110bhp 1.6 HDI, but as the two engines are related it looks as if PSA is investigating hybrid versions of both. As well as 97.4mpg and the ability to run on electric only power for short bursts around town, the C-Cactus pumps out a paltry 78g/km of CO2. Perfect for trimming your tax bills.

By Tim Pollard