The Citroën C3 Picasso is a car produced by the French motor company Citroën from 2008 to 2017. It has a five-door mini MPV design and was first unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show as a concept car named "Drooneel". The Picasso is the mini MPV version of the Citroën C3 and the successor of the Citroën Xsara Picasso, and was designed to compete with the Opel Meriva, Nissan Note, Renault Modus and Ford Fusion.
The C3 Picasso was first assembled in December 2007 at the PSA Trnava Plant in Slovakia, which Citroën announced from France in July 2008 would be the sole manufacturing site of the model. Citroën presented the finished product to the Slovak press and public on 25 September before it was unveiled to the world in October at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The Trnava Plant by then was expected to be building 28 cars per hour as the C3 Picasso went on sale in France in February 2009 for . The company began to sell the car in other European markets in March 2009.
A SUV-styled derivative named Citroën C3 Aircross (then Citroën Aircross) was manufactured in Brazil and sold in Latin America from 2010 to 2020. This model gave birth to a more urban-styled vehicle called C3 Picasso (manufactured in Brazil from 2011 to 2015), which was closer to the Brazilian C3 Aircross than to the global C3 Picasso. Both C3 Aircross and the Brazilian C3 Picasso were based on the Brazilian first generation Citroën C3, when the global C3 Picasso was based on the global Peugeot 207 SW.
When launched in Spain in 2009, only three trims were available: LX, SX, or Exclusive. The LX was the most basic and least expensive model, with a VTi engine, priced at , while the Exclusive model was most expensive with an HDi Airdream engine at . The C3 Picasso was launched in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2009, where it went on sale for for the 1.4-litre VTi, the most basic model with , while the most expensive was the 'Exclusive' with a 1.6-litre HDi engine and at .
A facelifted version of the car was shown at the 2012 Paris Motor Show on 27 September 2012 and was on sale in Europe by November.
Models Exclusive is consistently the most expensive trim for each market, with the biggest choice of engines and features. It is the only model to feature roof rails and a folding front passenger seat, making the storage space into the whole interior of the car except the driver's seat. Extras for the trim include: tinted windows, rear parking sensors, automatic windscreen wipers, a leather and chrome interior, pollen filter, and dual-zone automatic climate control, which allows for two varying temperature settings simultaneously in the vehicle.
Limited and Special Edition 90th Anniversary; the release of the Limited Edition 90th Anniversary C3 Picasso in August 2009 was the UK's third limited-edition model. It was created to commemorate 90 years of Citroën and has similar features to the Exclusive trim, sold at the same price and features the MyWay SatNav system, leather upholstery, and a commemorative badge on the dashboard emblazoned with the wording "90 Years". As bonus, it came equipped with of extras and was released in an advertising campaign of Anniversary trims for other Citroën models at the same time as the launch of the Limited Edition Millennium trim in France. The model was limited to 150 cars in the UK, of which only one has been sold and registered for use. Blackcherry is a limited edition trim, available in the UK since November 2010 and based on the VTR+. It was sold with the 1.6-litre High-pressure Direct Injection (HDi) diesel engine. It was discontinued and replaced with the Code Red and Code White in January 2012, which have the same engine. Rossignol; first collection launched in November 2010, second in November 2011. Millennium; several trims were released in France under the Millennium moniker, including the: C1, C4, C4 Picasso, C5 and C5 Tourer. The model has 16-inch (41 cm) alloy wheels, the MyWay SatNav system and radio with built-in Bluetooth and dual-zone automatic climate control. The car was available in a metallic or pearlescent finish. Code Red/Code White was released in January 2012. The limited edition C3 Picasso Code Red and Code White replaced the Blackcherry in the UK. The Code has the same engine as the Blackcherry and has been finely tuned for a marginally increased fuel economy and lower carbon dioxide () emissions. It features obsidian black bumpers and 17-inch (43 cm) Polar White or Cherry Red "clover" alloy wheels, and can be equipped with extra features, which include roof bars, curtain airbags, cruise control and a speed limiter. Body colours exclusive to the trim are Belle Ile Blue, Shark Grey and Cherry Red. Passion Bleus was released in France to celebrate the 2012 European Football Championship. The name is a tribute to the France national football team, which Citroën supports as a partner of the French Football Federation. The advertising campaign for the Passion Bleus involved French footballers, rallying champion Sébastien Loeb, and an online Facebook game "Le Pilote et le Bleu" (The Pilot and Blue). Other Citroën vehicles to receive a Passion Bleus trim were the: C1, C3, C4, C4 Picasso, and the Berlingo Multispace. Music Touch was launched in January 2013 in France. Created through a partnership with Samsung and Universal Music Group, the C3 Picasso Music Touch comes with a free white Samsung Galaxy Tab 16 GB. The obvious styling differences are the additional chrome trims and mirror covers, and white pearlescent paint. The Music Touch special series was also added to the C4 Picasso, C4 Aircross and Berlingo Multispace vehicles.
Design and features
All C3 Picasso models have an anti-lock braking system (ABS), Electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), child locks, remote central locking and two front airbags. Electronic Stability Control (ESC), once an option, is now included across the range. The vehicle is only available as a 5-seater, but with all models the three rear seats can be folded flat to increase the boot capacity from or including the hidden compartment to store the parcel shelf, up to a maximum of . The Exclusive model features a folding front passenger seat to increase the storage space further. All models in the range have a "Mistral Maxi Taylor" woven cloth interior; according to Citroën, top European engineers and designers including Donato Coco and Jean-Pierre Ploué were involved in designing the vehicle.
Optional accessories are available for the range, including an aluminium roof rack capable of carrying and kerbside lights in the door mirrors. Also available are: and alloy wheels with a choice of two patterns, chrome mouldings for the bumpers and doors, front fog lamps and cruise control, rear parking sensors, automatic lights (standard on some variants), and a speed limitation devicewhich are commonly used for safety reasons or to reduce fuel bills. A seatbelt reminder, which can be added to the passenger and rear seats, is fitted to the driver's seat as standard.
The chassis platform used for the C3 Picasso is a modified version of that in the Citroën C3 and the Peugeot 207, giving it a comparable wheelbase. The reuse of automobile platforms is commonplace, especially for Citroën because the Trnava plant builds the Peugeot 207 and the C3 Picasso. The parent company PSA Peugeot Citroën pools resources and manufacturing for some vehicles, and sometimes rebadges vehicles, combining design teams between two or more brands to create a shared product. Citroën placed a contractual obligation on the manufacturers to use green materials for the C3 Picasso range. These comprise ≥11% of the of polymers on the vehicle, including the mudguards, parcel shelf and boot carpet. Citroën recommends the vehicle is serviced at least every two years, or at every for petrol models and for the HDi diesel models.
Engines When equipped with the 1.6-litre VTi engine, the C3 Picasso Exclusive and VTR+ models are capable of a top speed of and in 10.6 seconds, sporting . This 1.6-litre and a smaller 1.4-litre VTi petrol engine, were developed by PSA Peugeot Citroën and BMW, along with a 1.6 L diesel engine and the two 1.6 L HDi Airdream engines. Every model came with a 5-speed manual gearbox until 2011, when 6-speed manual and automatic (EGS6) manual versions were introduced, along with an eco-friendly start-stop system and regenerative braking technology in certain models, notably the Exclusive and Tendance models for the German market. According to Citroën, these two new features reduce emissions significantly and their introduction coincided with the release of a higher specification Airdream engine, the European emission standards (Euro 5) carbon dioxide emissions limits were lowered and the addition of low-rolling resistance tyres were added to the entire range. The tyres are specially designed to minimize wasted energy when the tyre rolls and have been estimated by the California Energy Commission to save 1.5–4.5% of fuel in a typical car.
At first, Citroën decided not to offer their new automatic EGS6 gearbox version in the UK due to the unfavourable exchange rate and costs, although this changed after a small number were privately imported for insurance classification purposes. The EGS6 gearbox became an option for the 1.6 L VTi engine models shortly after.
Starting with June 2015 production, Citroën replaced the older petrol engines with a 1.2-litre Pure Tech 110 motor. This new 3 cylinder engine is paired with 5 speed manual transmission. CO2 emissions are 115 g/km. A BlueHDi 100 diesel coupled to a 5 speed manual transmission replaced the earlier offerings. The EGS6 automatic transmission is no longer available.
The complete vehicle lineup includes multiple models and engine configurations, all with different specifications and tuning: Full model line-up and engine availability Model Engines1.4 L VTi16v (95 bhp)1.6 L VTi16v (120 bhp)1.6 L HDi16v (110/115 bhp)1.6 L HDi8v (90 bhp)1.6 L e-HDi16v (90 bhp)Advance (–2012)Attraction (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Attraction (-2012)Aura (–2012)Business (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Business (-2012)Color Selection (–2012)Confort (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Confort (-2012)Connexion (–2012)Cool & Sound (–2012)Exclusive (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Exclusive (-2012)LX (–2012)Seduction (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Seduction (-2012)SX (–2012)Tendance (–2012)VT (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" VT (-2012)VTR+ (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" VTR+ (-2012)Limited/Special Edition models90th Anniversary (–2012) Blackcherry (–2012)By Carlsson (–2012)Code (2012 only)Collection (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Collection (-2012)Millennium (–2012)rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Millennium (-2012)Music Touch (-2013)Passion Bleus (2012 only)Rossignol (–2012)Selection (–2012)rowspan="2" Selection (-2012)
Petrol engines Model Year Engine code Displacement(cc, cu in) Power Torque 0–100 km/h(0–62 mph) (seconds) Top speed Transmission emissions (g/km) 1.2-litre PureTech 12v 2015– EB2DT 11.8 5-speed manual 115 1.4-litre VTi 16v –2012 EP3 12.2 149 2012– 145 1.6-litre VTi 16v(Latin American C3 Picasso + C3 Aircross) 2010– EP6 14 220 1.6-litre VTi 16v 2009– 10.9 149 11.5 6-speed automatic (EGS6) 137 Diesel engines 1.6-litre BlueHDI 2015– DV6 13.3 5-speed manual 101 1.6-litre HDi 16v –2012 11.2 6-speed automatic (EGS6) 125 –2012 6-speed manual 2012– 1.6-litre HDi Airdream 8v 2009– 13.5 5-speed manual 112 1.6-litre e-HDi Airdream 8v –2012 15.7 6-speed automatic (EGS6) 109 2012– 6-speed manual
Safety