- A revised Citroen C4 prototype was spotted testing ahead of a fall debut.
- Main changes to the crossover hatch seem to be focused on the lights and grille.
- We previously spied the C4-X sedan with similar updates that could bring it closer in design to the new, boxy C3.
Citroen’s latest C3 and e-C3 ushered in a new design language for the brand, and now the French automaker’s designers have the tricky job of updating the firm’s older, curvier cars with some of the same styling cues, starting with the C4 you see here.
The C4 is a genre-blurring machine, a crossover-style SUV that actually competes with traditional hatchbacks like the recently facelifted VW Golf and new Vauxhall/Opel Astra. And besides the higher ride height and fastback silhouette, what has helped the C4 stand out from those cars since its launch in 2020 is its split headlight treatment. But it looks like Citroen is turning that styling idea on its head this year.
Related: Citroen C4 X Bucks The Trend, Ditches Skinny DRLs For Fatter Lights
While the current C4 has a set of ultra-slim DRLs at the top of the bumper and a bigger main lamp unit below – a treatment Citroen pioneered way back in 2014 with the C4 Cactus – the new C4 looks like it’s inheriting a version of the C3’s lights. On the C3 the DRLs are mounted below the headlights, while the main lamp unit also gets an inbuilt DRL strip, and both are connected by a fat vertical DRL.
With all of this prototype’s disguise in place we can’t be sure exactly how the re-nosed C4 will look when it steps out onto the stage later this year, probably at October’s Paris Motor Show.
But what we can see of the lights through the camo suggests they’ll be similar to the C3’s, and Citroen will also apply the smaller car’s new-look double-chevron logo at the same time. The front-end sheetmetal, though, remains curvy, not boxy, like the C3’s, so there’s only so much the design team can do to visually link its old and new models.
These same changes will also apply to the electric e-C4 and the C4’s sedan brother, the C4 X, which our spy photo team captured testing in May. The C4 X was only introduced in May 2022, but since both cars are built at the same Madrid plant and share the same DNA forward of the B-pillars it makes sense to upgrade them at, or close to, the same time.
Neither model is likely to receive any major powertrain upgrades since Citroen already started equipping the C4’s with the new Stellantis 134 hp (100 kW / 136 PS) mild-hybrid engine in February of this year.
