| Citroen's Cactus Concept | ||
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(Tue 04 Sep 07) We will eat our hats if the Citroen C-Cactus wins an award for Most Beautiful Car In Show at Frankfurt, but in any case the significance of this concept lies underneath the skin.
It's called Cactus after the type of plant which doesn't consume much in the way of resources, and that's really the whole point. Powered by a small diesel engine and an electric motor, the C-Cactus has a claimed combined economy figure of 83mpg . . . and another claimed combined economy figure, issued 24 hours later, of 97.4mpg. Despite this meagre use of fuel, whichever it is, the concept has a top speed of 93mph - and could go faster than that but for a speed limiter. This combination of reasonable performance and amazing economy is largely due to the car's low weight of 1180kg. Citroen has cut down the number of parts used to well below conventional limits - there are just 200 in the interior (normally around 400), for example, and a further two (normally a dozen or so) to make up each of the doors. Some of the remaining parts are used for more than one purposes, such as the ignition key which doubles as an MP3 player. You're unlikely to see the C-Cactus, or anything like it, on the road in the near future, but a biofuel version of the Citroen C4 - already being sold in Brazil - will shortly go on sale in Europe.
Known as the C4 BioFlex, its 1.6-litre engine has been slightly modified to ensure that it can run on up to 85% bioethanol, the remaining stuff in the tank being standard unleaded petrol. Maximum power has been boosted from 110bhp to 113bhp, while CO2 emissions are down from 169g/km to 160g/km, not including the further assumed reduction in CO2 based on the fact that the carbon sent into the atmosphere from the exhaust had previously been captured from it to make the plants which are the basis of the fuel itself. |
