Citroen SpaceTourer launches at Geneva

New MPV can seat up to nine people and will rival Volkswagen Caravelle

The new Citroen SpaceTourer has made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The large MPV can seat up to nine people and Citroen hopes it’ll appeal to both big families and business customers.

The SpaceTourer will be built on a version of the platform already used for the Citroen C4 Picasso and Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, allowing the brand to offer it in three different sizes.

The standard-wheelbase version will be 4.6 metres long, while the M and XL versions based on a longer wheelbase will measure 4.95 and 5.3 metres respectively. All will be able to carry loads up to 1,400kg and the XL version will offer an impressive 2,932 litres of boot space with the third row of seats folded down.

The new SpaceTourer will only be available with diesel engines, which makes sense given the load-lugging jobs the car will be used for. There’ll be five different diesels to choose from, starting with an entry-level BlueHDi 95 – the only one of the five without stop-start technology. It returns 51.4mpg and CO2 emissions of 144g/km. The most economical option will be the BlueHDi 115, capable of 55.4mpg and 133g/km of CO2, while the most powerful choice will be the BlueHDi 180 (48.7mpg and 151g/km of CO2).

Practicality is key for a big MPV and the SpaceTourer boasts a number of features to make it easier to live with day to day. The car's sliding side doors can be opened automatically by the driver or by waving a foot under the corner of the rear bumper if your hands are full.

The rear window of the SpaceTourer opens to allow access to the boot if it's not possible to open the bootlid and there are plenty of handy touches around the cabin, including a refrigerated glovebox, plus tables, sun blinds and power sockets for rear passengers.

The SpaceTourer will be offered in two trim levels in the UK: Feel and Business. The Feel model (interior shown below) will be available in all three lengths with five, seven or eight seats and is intended for families and buyers who need a large car for leisure purposes.

The Business model (interior shown below) is available in the same three sizes, but with up to nine seats. It's intended for professional transport use, such as taxis and hotel shuttle buses. Both models have sliding and folding seats, which means the interior can be configured for more legroom, boot space or total number of passengers as needed.

Citroen says the interior of the SpaceTourer is about calm, serenity, space and an uncluttered appearance. Equipment includes a seven-inch tablet-style infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and MirrorLink technology, sat nav, a head-up display, ‘smart beam’ headlights an parking assistance.

Available safety technologies include active cruise control, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, road-sign recognition and active safety braking. All of those systems combined with the SpaceTourer's construction led Euro NCAP to award the car the maximum five stars when it was crash-tested.

The Citroen SpaceTourer Hyphen Concept (below) will be displayed alongside the standard model in Geneva and will be officially unveiled on 1 March. This eye-catching 4x4 version of the car was created in partnership with French electro-pop band Hyphen Hyphen and gets some redesigned bodywork, 19-inch alloy wheels, an ‘iridescent green’ body colour and a multi-coloured leather interior.

Prices and an official release date for the Citroen SpaceTourer have yet to be announced, but the car has just made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. 

Source: carbuyer.co.uk