Citroen C3 Aircross vs Kia Seltos: Price and specification comparison

Citroen has launched its latest offering C3 Aircross in India at a price range of ₹9.99 lakh and ₹11.99 lakh (ex-showroom). This SUV comes as the latest entrant in the Indian SUV space that has been witnessing a rapid surge in demand and sales growth over the last few years. The newly launched midsize SUV Citroen C3 Aircross competes with rivals like the Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos among others.

The French automobile manufacturer claims that this SUV has been launched in India with 90 per cent localisation, which helped the carmaker to achieve competitive pricing against its rivals. Also, Citroen claims that the C3 Aircross has been designed, developed and built with the preferences of Indian consumers in mind, which makes it a made-for-India SUV. However, it is not an easy task for the C3 Aircross to grab a notable share in the Indian SUV market as it faces tough challenges from other well-established models in the segment, which include cars like Volkswagen Tagun, Skoda Kushaq, MG Astor, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder and Honda Elevate.

Watch: Citroen C3 Aircross SUV: First drive review

Here is a price and specification comparison between the Citroen C3 Aircross and Kia Seltos SUVs.

Citroen C3 Aircross vs Kia Seltos: Price

Citroen C3 Aircross SUV is priced between ₹9.99 lakh and ₹11.99 lakh (ex-showroom). On the other hand, the Kia Seltos SUV is priced between 10.90 lakh and ₹20.30 lakh (ex-showroom). This means the Kia Seltos is significantly pricier than the Citroen C3 Aircross. The latter model's top-end trim is closely priced to the entry-level trim of the Seltos SUV.

Watch: Kia Seltos 2023: First drive review

Citroen C3 Aircross vs Kia Seltos: Specification

Citroen C3 Aircross SUV comes available with a single petrol engine and a single transmission option. It gets power from a 1.2-litre Puretech110 engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. This combination churns out 08 bhp of peak power at 5,500 rpm and 190 Nm of maximum torque at 1,750 rpm.

Kia Seltos comes available with options of two different petrol engines and a diesel motor as well. The petrol engines are a 1.5-litre Smartstream MPi unit, and a 1.5-litre Smartstream T-GDi motor, while the diesel variant gets a 1.5-litre CRDi VGT motor.

The 1.5-litre MPi petrol motor churns out 113 bhp peak power at 6,300 rpm and 144 Nm of maximum torque at 4,500 rpm. The other petrol motor generates 157 bhp of peak power at 5,500 rpm and 253 Nm of maximum torque between 1,500 rpm and 3,500 rpm. On the other hand, the diesel engine generates 114 bhp of peak power at 4,000 rpm and 250 Nm of torque between 1,500 rpm and 2,750 rpm.

The MPi petrol engine is available with transmission options of a six-speed manual gearbox and an IVT, while the T-GDi petrol motor gets transmission options of a six-speed iMT and a seven-speed DCT automatic unit. The diesel engine gets a six-speed iMT and a six-speed automatic unit as transmission options.

Clearly, the availability of a wider range of petrol and diesel engine options along with variable transmission options enhance the appeal of the Kia Seltos, compared to the Citroen C3 Aircross, which has no automatic transmission on offer and only a single petrol engine to draw power from.