Having spearheaded Citroen’s return to the South African market less than 2 years ago, the C3 Aircross compact family car has now received a minor facelift, as well as a number of interior detail upgrades, including better infotainment tech.

Taking its cue from the CXperience concept (shown at the 2016 Paris Show), the revised C3 Aircross’ front-end looks markedly different to that of the current model. Whereas the minimalist double-chevron grille used to encase the small crossover's LED DRLs, the outer ends of the lower chrome slat flow downward to link with the main lights, which are no longer square, but rectangularand bookend a narrow black grille thatvisually connects the primary lighting elements and effectively replaces the current model’s guppy-mouthedgrille.

The lower part of the front bumper features a much larger (almost oval) black air-intake motif (with vertical cylindrical detailing), as well as a more decorative front skid plate, which sports a brushed chrome/light silver finish. Otherwise, the French firm has introduced a new diamond-cut or black 16- and 17-inch alloys for its compact family car and simplified/de-striped the C-pillar graphics.

Meanwhile, Citroen’s has increased the C3 Aircross’ number of exterior paint finishes to 7 through the addition of Khaki Grey, Voltaic Blue and Polar White to the palette (although, to be fair, it has only been offered the model in Platinum Grey, Natural White and Soft Sand in Mzansi up to this point). What’s more, the red-orange accents on the roof rails, side-mirror caps, main light surrounds and C-pillar (the Colour Pack, which is standard in SA) has been carried over. To compare the newcomer directly with its predecessor, revisit ourCitroen C3 Aircross 1.2T Feel (2019) Review.

Compared with the funky exterior makeoverthat Citroenhas applied to its small crossover, the interior upgrades are quite subtle! The fascia design is largely unchanged, but the touchscreen infotainment system has increased to a 9-inch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto-compatible unit on top-spec derivatives (what we’d call Shine versions here in SA).

As standard, the interior is trimmed in a combination of grey cloth upholstery with soft grey plastic dashboard surfacing, but the French firm has introduced a Metropolitan Graphite “ambience”, which combines graphite faux leather and grey fabric seats with a dashboard strip finished in flecked grey. The top-of-the-range Hype Grey “ambience”, meanwhile, combines grey-green full leather upholstery with graphite faux leather swatches on the dashboard.

And lastly, Citroen now offers the Advanced Comfort seats (from the C5 Aircross) on the C3 Aircross and has fitted a new, larger central console (obviously with a larger storage capacity), which is accessible by front- as well as rear occupants. In the European market, driver-assistance featuressuch as a head-up-display and a top-down style 360-degree parking camerasetup can be specified.

While the facelifted version of the C3 compact hatchback is expected to arrive on the local market by the 2nd quarter of the year, the estimated time of arrival of the refreshed C3 Aircross remains unclear– it will depend on a number of factors, particularly stock levels of the current model…However, we expect the quirky French offering to arrive in Mzansi well before the end of the year.

Citroen C3 Aircross Specs & Prices in South Africa

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