Citroen’s Quirky C4 Cactus Gamble Is Paying Off

Citroen played its cards well with the C4 Cactus, and it’s not even a real C4, being built atop a stretched C3 platform

When the Citroen C4 Cactus was first shown, back in 2013, all people talked about was its strange styling and how it was like a Nissan Juke in its weirdness. Some journos showed confidence that the Cactus would do well, while others kept laughing at its odd (but not ugly) styling.

Citroen played its cards well with the C4 Cactus, which isn’t even really a C4 – it’s built atop a stretched C3 platform, featuring a chunkily squared off crossover body. This has the advantage of making the Cactus very light for its size and therefor hugely efficient – the most frugal variant, the BlueHDi 100 is quoted as being able to average 3.4 l/100km or 83 mpg UK and emit a lowly 89 g/km CO2.

Proof of the fact Citroen’s strategy when creating the Cactus was valid lies in the sales numbers, according to Automotive News Europe. A year on from its French market debut in June 2014, it had shifted some 74,000 units making it the third-best selling car in the French automaker’s range (after the C3 on which it’s based and the C4 Picasso).

Earlier in 2015, Citroen announced it was going to boost production by 10,000 and start offering the car on markets outside Europe. It’s first going to end up in Australia, then South Africa as well as some southern Asian states.

Future models will adopt the same style, as previewed by a series of concepts like the latest one going by the name Aircross. It may be  a crossover (and will probably spawn a model not at all dissimilar to the motor show study), but its design influence will extend to the entire Citroen range including the next C4 and C5 – we’re also assured these new models will bring some much needed quirkiness back to the brand.