Junior EV leads fightback against low-cost Chinese challengers

Concerned voices continue to debate the influence that Chineseimport electric cars will have on the European market in the longer term. In 2024, concerned European legislators even ruled to impose tariffs on them.

But, until now, very few European car makers have actually grasped the nettle and sought to match what we might consider Chinatypical value in a European-made, affordable electric car.

That is ostensibly what Stellantis’s new Smart Car model platform has been designed to do – and the fourth-generation Citroën C3 and brand-new ë-C3, the subject of this test, become its first-borne fruit.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING

★★★★☆

PROS Pragmatic platform engineering hits its target on value; fashionable crossover positioning

CONS Limited kerbside appeal

The Smart Car platform that underpins this car has been derived from Stellantis’s proven Common Modular Platform (CMP). It’s adaptable enough to be used to produce both EV and ICE models, and it will also father the new C3 Aircross, Fiat Grande Panda and other Stellantis low-cost cars.

Not that all are likely to be as quirky as this Citroën. The double chevron continues to count daring design among its raisons d’être and has really developed the crossoverinspired design themes flirted with by the third-generation C3 here. With a bluff nose and a roofline rising to 1577mm (Vauxhall Corsa 1433mm, Renault Clio 1440mm, Nissan Juke 1593mm), this is plainly a compact SUV kind of product.

While both C3 models use a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine as a primary power source, the ë-C3 enters its own market niche as a fairly modestly powerful, and short-range, simple EV. Its electric motor produces 111bhp and 92lb ft of torque, and draws power from an LFP drive battery with a usable capacity of 43.7kWh. That may not sound like much, but both Mini and Renault charge more and give less of the stuff in their cheapest Cooper and 5 rivals.