2015 Citroen C4 Cactus Gets Lady Lumps

  

WOMEN REJOICE! A car that can take the knocks and scrapes from trolleys and bad parking has arrived. Citroen has listened to you and AirBump is the answer, a grid of lumps covering the flanks. Marketing will love it too: the appeal of an overt design solution is how easily digestible the conundrum is, that an everyday problem can have a solution so easy to articulate. That it is easy to get into and has great visibility establishes it not just as brand vision, but a clear illustration of bullet-points gathered from market research. 

This rational approach extends to a pebble-clean body uninterrupted by light-catchers and creases. This could have been a stodgy design, yet there is a grace and lightness afforded by a carefully considered gesture in the shoulder and perfect wheel-to-body relationship. The front and rear graphics uses today's popular separated headlamp concept, and revives the pill/lozenge trend exemplified by the 2006 Mazda Ibuki concept. This geometric approach is equally appealing inside where a sturdy IP gives the impression of a solid extrusion from which precisely hewn switchgear and vent details are hung. 

The Citroen C4 Cactus marks a concerted effort to differentiate Citroen from the DS line-up, not just through the glitz of the latter, but through the grounded consumer-centricity of Citroen. The question is not its success in achieving that with the C4 Cactus, but whether the niche-by-niche approach is in danger of destabilizing the range. A glance towards Volvo shows how effective a traditional package is at supporting an aesthetic argument: a vision of the next C5 might just do that, with or without lumps.