Citroen to also manufacture cars for international markets in India

-    Citroen will build cars and powertrains at their new Chennai plant. 

-    The same vehicles and powertrains will also be exported to the international markets. 

Citroen is officially here. The French carmaker will commence its Indian operations next year when the C5 Aircross will roll out from their new manufacturing facility in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. The PSA Group already has a plant in Hosur and the carmaker plans to manufacture and supply powertrains and vehicles, not only for domestic sales but also export to the international markets. 

At their first press conference in India, Citroen confirmed that C5 Aircross will go on sale before the end of 2020. It will be joined by a new model each year, so come 2023 Citroen India’s line-up will be four cars strong. The carmaker plans to make all of these models in India along with their new powertrains. Which means that vehicles for both LHD and RHD markets will be made here in India. The French carmaker is aiming for over 90 per cent localisation in the country. This will help them keep the pricing of the C5 Aircross very competitive compared to its rivals. 

Apart from that, the carmaker also has plans of introducing plug-in hybrid variants of each model in India. The hybrid vehicles make use of PSA’s EMP2 platform and Citroen also has an all-electric line-up which is based on CMP underpinnings. But the timeline for the delivery of these models to our shores has not been outlined yet. And whether these unconventional powertrains will be made in India as well or will be imported as CBUs also remains uncertain.