FRENCH REVOLUTION

Or at least that's what Citroen hopes the C3 will be. Can it pull off the feat?

- Pablo Chaterji

They like to do things differently, the French. Not for them the tried and tested, the conventional, the banal. They like instead to fly the flags of contrarianism, and of rebellion (you only have to cast your mind back to certain events between 1787 and 1799, which ended very badly for anyone wearing a crown). Their music, art, cinema and food cannot be mistaken for any other culture, and the same can be said of their automobiles. The French have designed and built some of the greatest cars of all time (and a lot of absolute lemons, although they'll refuse to admit as much), and they have a refreshing approach to the industry, in that their attitude is usually 'Zis is 'ow we make cars. If you like eet, that's good. If you don't like eet...' (at this point they usually shrug their shoulders and make that oh-so-French popping noise).

Do I like the new, made-in-India Citroen C3, then? The honest answer is that I like a lot of eet, but I also don't like some of eet, which I'll get to in a... beet. First, some background information. The C3 is an old hand at the game, since it's been around from 2002 and has been through several iterations; it's been very popular in European as well as South American markets. This car is the first of three models that will be made under Citroen's 'C Cubed' programme, and it's been designed specifically for markets like ours and South America; it'll be manufactured here with a very high degree of localisation at the firm's Thiruvallur plant, while its powertrain will be sourced from the PSA plant in Hosur. Citroen claims that it's put the C3 through 25 lakh kilometres of testing and over 250 quality checks - so far, so rigorous.