The new Citroën C4 has arrived to triumph, and it has reasons to do so

Anyone who has never stopped to analyse Citroën’s design over its more than 100 years of history would be missing, on the one hand, an important lesson in automotive avant-garde and, on the other, a fine collection of cars whose designs marked a before and after, for better or for worse, because if there is one thing that characterises the brand of the chevrons it is that its design never leaves anyone indifferent, and the new Citroën C4 is one more example of this.

For the brand’s followers, the manufacturer’s different currents have brought drastic changes to the design of its cars, from the bland lines of the 1990s vehicles, where the coldness and sobriety of its German neighbours seem to have blown strongly across the French border, to the aesthetic revolution on show since the start of the decade we have just left behind.

Drastic changes in thinking, imagination, experimentation and, finally, manufacturing as to how Citroëns displayed in dealerships should look imply transformations that are sometimes truly incredible and unjustifiable, as suffered by the very vehicle we have before us now: a car that was born in the same decade as this one but 100 years earlier, and which was not until the turn of the millennium that, with the arrival of classic denominations, it re-emerged as a 3- and 5-door compact, mutated under the fever of crossovers, even developed a sort of blisters on its bodywork, and that since this year the 2020 Citroën C4 has once again mutated towards a kind of elongated, front-heavy saloon, with a dynamic dome and a finale built on imagination, with a raised body sculpted through hours in the gym, aimed at a clientele that likes distinction without resorting to the much-abused premium label, and that enjoys, to state the obvious, an affordable car whose cabin offers what it is worth, or even a little more.

And, as if that were not enough, this car, which will be built alongside other cars essential to the brand in Spain, carries the flag of the automotive industry’s new era from several angles.

To begin with, it relies on traditional engines, diesel and petrol, given that it inevitably dives into the world of electric vehicles with the variant Citroën e-C4, the electric Citroën C4 which, with the letter e in front of the car’s name, makes clear that it is a wake-up call to its rivals: “hey, a new, electric C4”.

A car that, in general, makes use of cutting-edge technology without tricks or illusions, since, based on the merits of its connectivity, information, entertainment, safety and comfort systems, this car aims to climb a mountain in terms of improved habitability; one need only look at the new generation of seats.

The best soup in the world

If we look closely, the keys to success, and I am not only referring to commercial success, which has not always accompanied the various Citroën models, but to the recipe for the perfect soup, are repeated: avant-garde, innovative, irreverent design.

That is how the new Citroën C4 presents itself: avant-garde because, despite being a sort of blend of body styles, combined with mastery, because to call it a crossover would be to include it among compacts with the look of a crossover, and I do not think it deserves that label or fits it; its footprint and presence leave no one indifferent and, therefore, it is entirely novel.

Well done to Citroën, whether you like it or not, because in a world where the path to follow is the one already marked, and where virtue lies in not standing out from the rest, driving a 2020 Citroën C4 will attract the glances of everyone who comes across one.

Something I have already experienced with cars related to this one: for instance, alongside it in the chronology of recent decades, the new-generation Peugeot and, in particular, both the new Peugeot 208 and, from my own first-hand experience, the splendid, elegant and distinguished new Peugeot 508 that I had the pleasure of testing, turned heads and craned necks. The same will happen with the new Citroën C4. Surely.