Citroën C5 X Hybrid: why are more than half of its sales plug-in hybrids?

In the few months the Citroën C5 X has been on our market, the French brand’s new offering has accumulated more than 600 orders, of which the plug-in hybrid version accounts for no less than 60% of sales.

This would place the C5 X Hybrid as the second best-selling plug-in hybrid among the saloons and estates in the D segment, where we could fit a model that may also remind you of an SUV in some of its traits.

But what are the reasons that have led customers to look especially at the plug-in hybrid version, even though it sits at the top of the range, with what that also means in terms of price? Well, there are quite a few. Let’s look at them.

PHEV at petrol prices…

The first of them may be the absence of turbodiesel engines. The entry version of the range has a three-cylinder PureTech engine with 130 CV, and is available from around 31,000 euros, with the commercial discount included, which is 3,500 euros across the whole range.

A tried-and-tested engine that delivers fantastic performance in many models of the Stellantis Group, but which seems a little underwhelming for a car with the ambitions of the C5 X. The “jump” to the 180 CV four-cylinder petrol engine is worth considering: more than 5,500 euros for equivalent equipment. But the car deserves it.

From here on, to get into the C5 X Hybrid you have to pay around 4,000 euros more than for the 180 CV Puretech, going by list prices. But you get a car with much more technology, which allows it to reach 225 CV and offer better performance… with lower consumption.

Add to that the possibility of covering around 55 km in electric mode on a single charge of its 12.2 kWh battery, which you can recharge overnight from a domestic socket without needing to install a wallbox, using the 3.7 kW on-board charger (or at public charging posts with the optional 7.4 kW unit), and the balance starts to tip.

…and with the DGT ZERO emissions label

But if we now add all the advantages that the ZERO DGT label brings, compared with the petrol versions, which have no mild hybridisation and carry the C label, the sums start to add up for many. What’s more, the 4,000 euro price difference can be partly or fully offset by the purchase incentives of the Plan Moves III, which provides up to 2,500 euros, or up to 5,000 euros if a car is handed in for scrapping.

Precisely including the Plan Moves III, Citroën is advertising its C5 X Hybrid in Feel Pack trim for 265 euros a month on an all-inclusive renting basis over 36 months and 30,000 km, with an initial payment of 8,230 euros.

The drawbacks of the C5 X Hybrid compared with the 180 CV petrol Puretech? Well, the 545 litre boot capacity drops to 485 litres. A figure that, in any case, remains more than acceptable even for trips with passengers and luggage.

Citroën C5 5 – Image gallery