Citroën revival concept adopts a Fiat Multipla trait: six seats

This is not a joke. Citroën’s chevron-badged brand reset is set to pick up a hallmark famously associated with the Fiat Multipla. With just a month to go before the unveiling, fresh details have emerged about its dimensions, cabin layout and steering wheel.

Citroën takes cues from the Fiat Multipla with a compact six-seat layout

Citroën is rebooting and, in the process, drawing inspiration from the Multipla. Next December, a concept that signals the brand’s new direction will be shown, and we have now learned it is expected to offer six seats. While it is not unusual to find cars with more than five seats, a six-seat arrangement inevitably brings the Multipla to mind-especially as Citroën’s concept is said to be compact, at around 4 metres long.

This “manifesto”, intended to set out Citroën’s new design approach and priorities, will take the form of a small MPV, according to matching information obtained by the newsroom at Les Echos. The French business newspaper reported that it would be a small 4.10-metre vehicle-slightly longer than a Volkswagen Polo-yet still able to seat six thanks to two rows of three seats (including across the front). That layout is an obvious nod to the Fiat Multipla, which itself measures 4.09 metres.

Xavier Chardon and Citroën’s new priorities: space and volume

Xavier Chardon, previously head of Volkswagen France, joined Citroën as Chief Executive on 2 June. Over the summer, he said Citroën’s new direction would be built around two main pillars: cabin space and load volume. He also fuelled speculation about a modernised 2CV, highlighting Citroën’s iconic model for its “DNA and its spirit”-qualities that would need to be “injected into our future cars”.

All the details on Citroën’s revival on 10 December

Further information reported by Les Echos suggests the Citroën concept will feature a single-spoke steering wheel. This would be a deliberate reference to the brand’s historic models, as Citroën’s new strategy appears to be testing a neo-retro approach-much as Renault has done with its latest electric line-up (R5, R4 and, more recently, the Twingo). The remaining details are due to be revealed on 10 December, the day the concept is presented, which Presse-citron will attend.

Citroën’s affordable “E-Car” plans below the B and C segments

As a reminder, Citroën’s future is also expected to include an even smaller model in its range. Alongside the B and C segments, the French brand wants to push at regulatory boundaries to create a new market for low-cost electric models, commonly referred to as an “E-Car”. Light and minimalist, one such vehicle is therefore expected to take over from the Citroën Ami, following a similar playbook to BYD in Japan, which recently unveiled its take on the “Kei car”: a small MPV measuring just 3.4 metres long.