CITROËN'S FAMILY CAR OF THE FUTURE AT THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW

The family car of the future will be on display at the 2000 Melbourne International Motor Show (4-13 March 2000) in the unique shape of the Citroën Xsara Picasso, a car that has the interior space of a traditional Australian wagon, but takes the up the road space of just a small hatchback.

Due for launch in Australia later in the year, the Citroën Xsara Picasso is the most advanced of a new class of car, the mini-MPV, that provide outstanding interior space combined with a small exterior, high tech engineering and a shape that is like nothing else on the road.

The high tech engineering ranges from one of the most fuel-efficient and cleanest engines in the world, to storage lockers in the floor for the kid's toys and a rear hatch that adapts for short and tall people. It even has a built in shopping trolley!

The Mini MPV class, although it has just three members, will over take the big MPV class in Europe sales during the next 12 months with this new style of car set to become for the new millennium what the 4WD has been for the 1990s: The car to be seen in.

Sharing the Citroën stand at the Melbourne International Motor Show will be three cars that, each in their own way, clearly demonstrate the unique approach that Citroën has to providing transport and why it is a benchmark company for technical innovation.

The Citroën Berlingo
Why should the owners and users of small vans suffer sub-standard vehicles that are built down to a price, not up to a standard and which are not designed for their particular purpose? That was the question Citroën posed when it began designing the Citroën Berlingo.

Citroën's small van may look car-derived, but it is a purpose built van, from its class leading interior space and payload, to the passenger seat that doubles as a work table and which hides a 100 litre secure storage area. As would be expected from Citroën, the Berlingo also has exemplary road manners, with handling, road holding, ride comfort and steering that many carmakers cannot match, let alone commercial vehicles.

Visitors to the Melbourne International Motor Show should check out some of the Berlingo's unique features. As well as the multi-function front passenger seat, which also folds up to give a 2.0 metre load bay length, look for the unique flap at the top of the rear doors. This allow long items, such as ladders, to be carried in secure safety, with little or no risk of them coming out of the vehicle or being hit by following vehicles. It's a unique Citroën-invented feature. Or look at the door pockets, each can take two large water bottles, while the dashboard has two radio slots, one with a security flap. This enables couriers to quickly fit two-way radios and not loose the entertainment provided by the standard digital stereo radio cassette unit.

And the price penalty for being the outstanding, best in class? None. The Citroën Berlingo is pitched into the Australia market line-ball with its main competitors. It is, therefore, no wonder that since it debut last year, the only problem Citroën has had with the Berlingo is getting enough to meet Australian demand.

The Citroën Xsara: Claudia Shiffer looks, Albert Einstein brains
The Citroën Xsara combines beauty and brains. Underneath its sleek French good looks is a host of refined technology designed to make Citroën's five-door hatch refined, smooth, economical and a top performer.

As would be expected from a company that included in one its first design briefs the ability to drive across a ploughed field without breaking a single egg in a basket on the front seat, the Xsara's ride quality is superb. But so is its handling, road holding and steering. This is not a car that sacrifices road manners on the altar or ride comfort.

Performance is assured with engines matched to gearboxes to achieve the best performance and economy. Citroen's new four speed fuzzy logic self-shifter is mated to a new engine tailored to offer the best the combination, while the manual gearbox uses a 1.8 litre multi-valve unit, aimed to get the best performance and to provide the optimum driving experience.

The Citroën Xantia: $200,000 technology from $40,000
Can any other car match this? You have a heavy load to carry. A the flick of a lever, the car lowers itself to the ground, providing you with the shortest possible height to lift your load. Flick the lever back into normal position and even fully laden, your car rides at its normal ride height, with the normal suspension travel and with no effect on the quality of the ride. Then you come to a rough road with 10 cms of water across it.

Flick the lever again, and the car lifts itself up 15 cms into the air so you can wade safely through the water and over the bumps. AT your destination, you drop the car down again and easily unload your heavy items.

A dream of technology to come? New technology only available on the most expensive model in the range? Neither. This is the Citroën-invented hydrapheumatic suspension that has been copied by every luxury carmaker in the world. Except with Citroën it is available as standard from $40,000 in the Citroën Xantia.

Available as a spacious sedan or a unique wagon, with multi-valve four cylinder or V6 engines, the Xantia may have been designed in Europe, but it is uniquely suitable for Australia. Smooth and quiet, it can swallow with ease our immense distances, while its suspension makes light work of our rough, unforgiving roads.

The Citroën Xsara Picasso: A new type of car for the new Millennium
The Mini MPV, exemplified by the Xsara Picasso, has achieved this by offering a unique combination: An exterior size and footprint on the road little larger than a conventional medium hatchback, but, thanks to the monospace, or single box design and added height, a level of interior space that is unimaginable in a hatchback. Yet, it is as easy to drive and maneuverable as a conventional car.

To this package Citroën adds the features that would expected of such an innovative and stylish marque.

It is based on the platform of the acclaimed Citroën Xsara, which endows it with class leading ride quality, handling and roadholding. Its unique exterior styling that sets it apart in an already innovative class houses an interior that builds on an already spacious envelope with space for five occupants and their luggage.

The Citroën Xsara Picasso will go on sale in Australia at the end of 2000 with prices expected to start from just over $30,000. Full pricing and Australian specifications will be announced when the Xsara Picasso goes on sale.

Citroën Xsara Picasso: Innovation in vehicle design
Unveiled at the 1998 Paris Motor Show, the Citroën Xsara Picasso owes its exterior and interior styling to the Citroën Creative Styling Centre. Reflecting new concepts in style, ergonomics and practicality the Xsara Picasso is spacious, user-friendly and versatile.

A single-box vehicle with the continuous line of the windscreen and bonnet, the Xsara Picasso is a hatchback at the rear with its raked rear window. The morphology of the vehicle is a first in the world of automotive design. The dimensions of the Xsara Picasso place it squarely in the family of compact vehicles, but the interior is exceptionally user-friendly and spacious as a result of the vehicle's astonishing proportions. Its overall length (4.27 metres) places it between the Citroën Xsara and the Citroën Xantia, while its height (1.63 m) places it between the Xantia and the

Citroën Evasion people mover. The width is 1.75 m. With its interior space and generous wheelbase of 2.76 m, the Xsara Picasso offers five real seats (the three at the rear being of identical size) and a vast boot of 515 litres or in other words, a load capacity equivalent to that of an wagon in the Class above.

The range is based on a single level of trim and three powerplants: two petrol (1.6i and 1.8i 16V) developing 65 kW and 85 kW respectively, and one diesel 2.0 Turbo Diesel HDi developing 66 kW.

The name Xsara Picasso, surprises and catches the imagination. One of the greatest artists of this century, Citroën Xsara Picasso broke with accepted conventions to share his personal vision of the world. It was therefore natural for an original and inventive marque such as Citroën, a marque with a worldwide reputation as an innovator, renowned for its ability to design cars with a difference, to associate the name of Xsara Picasso with the first Citroën car of the third millennium.

Responding to customer requirements, the Citroën Xsara Picasso combines the versatile and modular practicality of an all-purpose vehicle with the looks, safety, robust design and driving pleasure of a saloon. The Xsara Picasso combines the qualities of several automotive families. It can be compared to a saloon, an wagon, a people-carrier and even a cabriolet when it is equipped with a large sunroof extending back over the second row of seats.

The vehicle is designed to offer a living area in which the well-being of all occupants is taken into account. The spacious and modular interior, the three rear seats, the flat floor forming a walkway and the generous stowage space illustrate Citroën's determination to make life on board a pleasurable experience. The height of the driving position - mid-way between a saloon and a people-carrier - is a major improvement. The vehicle is designed to make everyday tasks easy. Moreover, the Xsara Picasso is equipped with a wealth of features to make sure that children travel in comfort and safety.

The vehicle is designed to combine driving pleasure and comfort with a high level of safety. The multiplexed electrical architecture offers a number of new functions including smart front and rear windscreen wipers and automatic locking.

It also rationalises the electrical equipment for increased reliability and simplifies repairability through improved diagnostics.

The Xsara Picasso offers a generous level of equipment for the safety and comfort of vehicle occupants. In terms of safety, it is equipped as standard with twin front airbags (the passenger airbag can be deactivated) and twin side airbags to protect the head and chest, front seatbelts with force limiters and pyrotechnic pretensioners, ABS, remote central locking, and wide-field rearview mirrors among other features.

In terms of comfort, the Xsara Picasso is equipped with variable power steering, electric front windows with one-touch control and an anti-nipping device on the driver's side, two electric, defrosting rearview mirrors, central locking with HF control, an onboard computer and height-adjustable driver's seat and steering wheel.

To meet customer requirements, the Citroën Xsara Picasso provides generous stowage space and focuses on a host of "minor" details that simplify everyday use: an indicator on the instrument cluster to show whether the child safety lock has been activated; warning signals to indicate a risk of black ice or inform the driver that the key has been left in the ignition, the doors are open or that he is over the speed limit; doors designed to open in three positions, an indicator showing the distance to be covered before the next scheduled maintenance operation, automatic locking if the driver forgets, a driver's footrest, and a car radio with automatic volume adjustment and fingertip controls.

The Xsara Picasso was developed within the framework laid down by Citroën's Product Development Charter. The project took 151 weeks and involved an investment of FF 1.9 billion of which FF 1 billion in development costs (design, quality, tests, prototypes, process engineering).

The Xsara Picasso was launched at the end of 1999 in Europe and it will arrive in Australia at the end of 2000. It is assembled at the Vigo plant in Spain.

Click here to visit the Xsara Picasso Picture Collection

PLEASE NOTE: This is only a demonstration version of the Citroen web site. Under normal circumstance you can download hi-res blow-up images, but as the files are very large, they have not been included in this version of the web site.

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