Citroen Basalt will enter the highly competitive compact SUV segment to face up with the upcoming Tata Curvv besides Creta, Seltos Grand Vitara, Elevate…
Citroen has unveiled the production version of the new Basalt SUV-Coupe. It is the third vehicle in the company’s C-Cubed lineup after C3 and C3 Aircross. It might be positioned above C3 and eC3 along with the C3 Aircross SUV. While the new Citroen Basalt shares the same platform as C3 and C3 Aircross, it will be set apart in terms of features and design. Basalt is likely to be offered in three variants, of You, Plus, and Max.
Citroen Basalt Revealed
True to its SUV style stance the Citroen Basalt gets split headlamps, V shaped LED DRLs and wraparound halogen taillights while it will ride on square-ish wheel arches. It gets a large split grille and faux silver skid plates while it also shows of a high boot lid with the Citroen logo. In keeping with its coupe appeal, the Basalt also sports a sloping roofline while it rides on new 16-inch alloy wheels.
Design elements also include a shark fin antenna, dual tone bumper in silver and black and wheel arches with plastic cladding along with body coloured door handles. Basalt coupe-SUV also receives 5 distinctive exterior colour options – Garnet RedCosmo Blue, Polar White, Steel Grey and Platinum Grey. Dual-tone colours come with black roof, mated to either Garnet Red or Polar White.
On the inside, Basalt brings a host of new premium features. There is a beige leatherette upholstery, front and rear armrests, conventional floor mounted rear AC vents, adjustable under-thigh support for rear passengers, sophisticated rear headrests, an automatic climate control, 6 airbags and more.
Infotainment screen is still the same 10.25 inch touchscreen system with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. A 7-inch instrument screen is carried over too. Other cabin comforts could include wireless smartphone charging pad, electrically adjustable ORVMs, steering-mounted controls, cruise control, a 470L luggage carrying capacity among others.
The new exterior highlights like LED projector headlights (first for any C-Cubed vehicle) will also make their way into other Citroen vehicles like C3 hatchback and C3 Aircross. Notably, wheelbase is 2,651 mm, which is 20 mm shorter than that of C3 Aircross’. Ground clearance is less than C3 Aircross too, at 180 mm. This should allow for easier ingress and egress.
Engine Specs
Citroen Basalt borrows its engine lineup from the C3 hatchback. This includes a NA 1.2L setup and a turbo 1.2L setup with the same tune as C3 hatchback. Former offers 81 bhp and 115 Nm, mated to a 5-speed gearbox. Latter offers 108 bhp power, mated to either a 6-speed manual (195 Nm) and a 6-speed automatic (205 Nm). Citroen will position the Basalt above the C3 Aircross in its line-up. Mileage figures include 18 km/l for NA petrol, 19.5 km/l for turbo MT and 18.7 km/l for turbo AT.
Citroen is also expected to price the new Basalt in the same ballpark as the C3 Aircross that currently ranges between Rs. 9.99 lakh and goes upto Rs. 14.33 lakh (ex-showroom). It will compete directly with the Tata Curvv in its coupe-SUV segment but will also rival the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Grand Vitara, Kia Seltos, Honda Elevate, Toyota Hyryder, Skoda Kushaq, Volkswagen Taigun and MG Astor and its 7-seat sibling, C3 Aircross.
