Category: Citroen

Following yesterday’s images and press release of the Citroen DS3 R comes this official video of the car being driven on some nice mountain roads. Looks like fun to me. Take the jump and see for yourself…

The pre-release of images and details prior to Geneva continues with Citroën showing off its new DS3 Racing. It will be limited to just 1000 cars and is schedlued for European relase in the latter half of this year. Looking at the images, well, she’s a bit lairy, don’t you think! But in a good way. Although that opinion will vary wildly among readers I am sure.

Based on the DS3 THP 150 we first saw last August, the DS3 Racing version trades off the company’s rally success and has been sent to Citroën Racing for a bit of a going over. Le boffins fiddled around with the 1.6-litre engine and its electronic brain to increase peak power by 30% and torque by 15% to 200bhp and 275Nm.

While they were doing that some spare boffins found time to sharpen the steering, drop the ride height by 15mm and, perhaps most significantly, widen the front and rear tracks by 30mm. That last tweak should offer superior road holding to ensure there is plenty of fantastique froggy cornering goodness.

As if the orange paint detailing didn’t scream loudly enough that this is a more sporty DS3 there’s also a bunch of stickers plastered all over the car to help ram the point home. In a weird sort of way the more Citroën pushes the envelope in this regard, the more appealing it becomes.

More pics after the break, I’d love to hear what you think of the DS3 Racing’s wild looks.

UPDATE: Press release from Citroën Australia has been added below, which drops a hint that we might see the DS3 Racing in Australia.

UPDATE 21 Feb: When asked if the DS3 Racing would be coming to our shores Citroën Australia spokesman Edward Rowe replied, “It’s possible, we will not know for certain until the end of the year.”

Whoa, that cheesy headline is not mine. Credit for that goes entirely to Citroën PR who are pushing their 90th birthday celebrations. It also happens to be the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower and, not letting a marketing opportunity slip, Citroën are once again uniting the two French icons for a light show which is set to launch on 22 October.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s the Eiffel Tower was a piece of advertising scaffolding supporting giant Citröen signage. At the time it was the world’s largest advertising sign. Now, in 2009, the two will combine again with a 12 minute light show that will run for three months.

Footage of the opening night will broadcast across the net with images captured from cameras placed inside several new Citröen C3s parked nearby in specially selected locations. It’s all about showing off the C3’s massive front windscreen, you see.

More detail in Citröen’s presser below.

You may remember the DS Inside Concept from earlier this year. Well, as it turns out, that was pretty much an exact preview of the new DS3 model which will be launched at, yep, you guessed it, the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

Back in February, the sizing, use of exterior colours and desire to create something fresh and different for the small car segment screamed of chasing MINI sales. Now, with more detail on the DS3 released, that target on the MINI brand has become larger with Citroën revealing plans for highly customisable options, including paint colours and interior trims. You know, just like MINI offers.

Naturally, competition is a good thing, so it will be interesting to see how MINI counters this new threat. I don’t think it will be by reducing their prices!

Due for release in the European spring next year the DS3 has evolved from Citroën’s “créative technologie” mantra. It will be the first model released from the company’s new DS line, which Citroën describes as being “distinctively styled, attention-grabbing models”.

Loads more after the jump, and, as always, if you want larger sized images, just knock yourself out by clicking on the pic you like and voila a wallpaper friendly 2000px super image will be all yours.