Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has long said that “freedom of mobility” can only be assured if electric vehicles are made available to the masses.
Starting from tomorrow, the Citroen New e-C3 does exactly this, when car buyers can pre-order the small full-electric hatchback for 23,300 euros in markets including France and Germany.
The New e-C3, with a range of 320 km (199 miles) that is aimed at urban and suburban daily use, is comfortably below the 25,000-euro threshold that Tavares and other auto executives say is needed to fend off the threat from Chinese-made EVs.
Its starting price is putting considerable pressure on rivals such as Renault, which is set to launch the Renault 5 small car next spring in production form, as well as Europe’s best-selling brand, Volkswagen, which expects to debut its own sub-25,000-euro EV, the ID2, in 2025.
At the same time, other Stellantis brands will feel the heat from the New e-C3. The Fiat New 500, which is classified as a minicar, starts at 30,400 euros in France and remains Stellantis’ best-selling EV, but it will no longer be the group’s cheapest electric car, at 30 percent more expensive than the New e-C3.