Here we have three sisters that promise to burst onto the international stage together, each destined to win its own slice of fame. Four years from the announcement of cooperation between the PSA Peugeot Citroën Group and the Toyota Motor Corporation, the 107, C1 e Aygo, the new city cars which are very small on dimensions but big on charisma, make their début.
Underlying a project which adds a model just 3.4 metres long to the range of each of these brands is the desire to create a car which, notwithstanding the limited production costs and small dimensions, is a concentrated package of quality, aesthetic appeal and practicality. Hence the idea of uniting forces and putting together the capabilities of the two groups in order to filter the best of each and launch an attack on this segment which is showing great vitality.
The starting point for the entire operation was the shared platform. This was supplied by the Japanese partner which also set up the confrontation between the design centres of the three brands that gave life to a first group of proposals. Totally independent of one another to start with, they were subjected to overall fine-tuning before three final vehicles were produced.
Built in two versions (three and five door), the three small French-Japanese cars promise to win over every kind of public, from the very young to families with children, possible because of a cabin that is basic but more than adequate. Praise for this result goes to Toyota which won the competition between the three style centres for the design of the interiors, defining the shared cabin which will be built, like the rest of the three vehicles, in the joint TPCA (Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile) plant at Kolin in the Czech Republic for a total of some 900 thousand units per annum.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 152
