2013-04-04 13:03:12

Minivan is announced to be the Most Important French Car of the last decade

The MPV sector, that is very popular in Europe, was initially invented in France. The Renault Espace, the grandfather of the modern minivan, was initially assumed to be a Peugeot, until PSA accounted it to be very costly and sold it to Renault. Approximately two decades later, Renault changed the segment again with the help of cozy Scenic minivan, which created followers from mostly every auto maker.

Citroen’s brand-new MPV, the C4 Picasso, is one of the most important cars for PSA and the French car industry in general. It’s not as attractive as the Renault sport or Alpine models coming of the production line. It also doesn’t have the freak status of previous PSA models, but this vehicle will be one of the models that decide the future of PSA. Having lost the chance to make a push in the low-cost segment, the C4 and the Peugeot 208 will decide the next generation of PSA models, as the two brands attempt to re-position in the marketplace.

The Picasso will be the first model to run on PSA’s new EMP2 architecture. It will be filled with the newest technologies, such as blind spot cameras and huge touch screens to set the cruise control. New diesel powertrains will consume 70 mpg on the road and give off C02 emissions on the same level with Toyota Prius, which is not very exciting, but if you ever take a cab in Paris, you’ll be possibly sitting in one of these.

PSA extremely needs C4 to be successful. Having tested their next gen structure, it turned out that the future of PSA remains in the balance.