Your family is growing, your priorities are changing and you are ready to swap a sporty hatchback for a more down-to-earth MPV… or are you? The people carriers of tomorrow look set to become more attractive and desirable than ever - and Citroen has already given us a glimpse of what’s to come.

When the C-SportLounge concept was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, it merged coupé styling with family car practicality.

Pointing the way to a replacement for the Picasso, the newcomer is the French firm’s most significant show car of the year, so Auto Express took the chance to get behind the wheel and find out exactly what it has to offer. Proof that Citroen has plenty of exciting ideas to follow its C4 and C6production models, the C-SportLounge has masses of visual punch. Yellow paintwork, chrome detailing and a distinctive window line emphasise the striking five-door’s unique styling.

Many of the show car’s features are set to make it into the production version of the C-SportLounge, so expect to see boomerang-shaped rear lights and a nose bearing long angular lenses in Citroen showrooms soon.

Inside, the new model is fitted with a sharply designed four-seater cabin, accessed via barn-style doors on both sides. The sweeping dashboard is said to have been inspired by an aircraft cockpit and is ergonomically superb. There’s an innovative approach to switchgear design, while the vehicle’s automatic gearbox can be used as a manual via steering wheel-mounted paddleshifters.

Based on the same platform as the C4, the show car is as capable on the move as its hatchback stablemate. Even at low speeds the agility of the chassis is obvious - future models based on these underpinnings have the potential to be comfortable and involving.

Under the bonnet, the C-SportLounge has a 2.0-litre HDi diesel engine producing 136bhp. The unit comes from the C4, but Citroen says that its petrol engines will be as important as its derv units in future models. To date, only 38 per cent of C4 hatchbacks sold this year have been oil-burners.

Although no official confirmation of when a model based around the C-SportLounge will go on sale has been given, the firm is tipped to reveal a new showroom-ready people carrier at the Paris Motor Show next autumn.

However, the existing Picasso is likely to stay in production for a couple of years. Despite being based on the old Xsara platform, the ageing five-seater is selling well, with heavily discounted prices attracting around 13,000 private buyers so far this year.

Citroen’s new compact MPV goes on sale before the end of 2006 and will be offered in both five and seven-seat variants. It will be marketed as a more upmarket model to the Picasso, in order to appeal to buyers of Renault’s Scenic and Grand Scenic.

If the production model can retain the C-SportLounge’s appeal, Citroen could well have an MPV class leader in its line-up once again.

(this article was taken from autoexpress.co.uk)

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