Despite the displacement deficit, Fiat’s T200 1.0L turbo petrol on 2024 Citroen C3 Aircross makes 15 PS more power and 10 Nm more torque
Citroen wants to make quite a spectacle in India with its C-cubed program spawning three different vehicles. One is C3 hatchback, second is C3 Aircross SUV and lastly, we have C3X crossover sedan incoming, as confirmed by test mules. C3 Aircross in Brazil, however, is getting a new 1.0L turbo petrol with 130 bhp and 200 Nm, mated to a CVT and packs cruise control.
2024 Citroen C3 Aircross Confirmed With 130hp, 200Nm, CVT
The new engine in question is T200 or MultiAir III engine which falls under Fiat’s Global Small Engine (GSE) range, also known as Firefly range. This is a modular engine platform, with multiple applications. The T200 in particular, is an inline-3 turbo petrol engine displacing 1.0L with 4V per cylinder layout.
First introduced in 2021, this T200 engine powers a bunch of Stellantis vehicles including Fiat Strada, Fiat Pulse, Fiat Fastback and more recently, Peugeot 208. When run on E100 (100% Ethanol), this engine generates 130 PS of peak power at 5750 RPM and 125 PS when run on petrol. Torque is 200 Nm for both applications coming in at 1750 RPM.
For Brazil, Citroen has confirmed this engine will get a sole CVT gearbox. This CVT gearbox will simulate 7 steps for varied torque, mimicking gear ratios. Citroen is yet to release fuel consumption data and performance metrics officially. Not just that, Citroen is offering cruise control for Brazilian-spec model too, something that Indian buyers miss out on.
Will Indian model get this too?
It is less likely that India-spec Citroen C3 Aircross will get Fiat’s T200 engine. We say this because OEMs prefer sharing powertrains across multiple vehicles and Citroen is already doing that with its PureTech 90 and PureTech 110 powertrains. Introducing an all new engine just for one vehicle is not economically viable.
That said, India-spec Citroen C3 Aircross will get a 6-speed automatic gearbox option which recently debuted in Indonesia with slightly more torque. Citroen doesn’t mention what type of automatic this is, but is highly likely to be an AMT. However, we hope Citroen offers cruise control with India-spec C3 Aircross sometime in the future.
When compared to PureTech 110 1.2L 3-cyl turbo petrol engine already on sale with India-spec model, T200 makes 15 PS more power and 10 Nm more torque, despite the displacement deficit. Other than that, Brazil-spec model and India-spec model are identical where dimensions, features, creature comforts and design are concerned.
We hope India-spec model is not identical to Brazil-spec model where crash safety is concerned. We say this because Brazil-spec Citroen C3 scored 0 stars in Latin NCAP tests recently. In Brazil, 2024 Citroen C3 Aircross will compete against the likes of Hyundai Creta (Crete), Chevrolet Spin and VW T-Cross.
