421-mile Citroen e-C5 Aircross costs under £33k after electric grant
The Citroen e-C5 Aircross has gone on sale priced from under £33,000 after qualifying for the Government’s Electric Car Grant.
The Long-range variant of the family SUV is just the third EV to qualify for the higher band 1 grant, offering a discount of £3,750 on the list price.
That means customers can get one of the longest-range cars on sale in the country for just £32,935.
The e-C5 Aircross Long Range uses a 97kWh battery to offer an official range of 421 miles, beating the likes of the £49,000 Tesla Model Y Long Range and putting it close to its £48,000 Stellantis stablemate the Peugeot E-3008.
Standard range versions of the E-C5 Aircross, which use a 75kWh battery, only qualify for the smaller band 1 grant of £1,500. That is presumably due to a more sustainable production process for the larger battery. That means the long-range version costs just £370 more than the standard range car but brings an extra 99 miles of range and an additional 20bhp.
Both variants of the E-C5 Aircross come in three trim levels – You!, Plus and Max. All versions get Citroen Advanced Comfort suspension and seats, 19-inch alloys, auto-dipping LED headlights and adaptive cruise control. Plus adds cosmetic upgrades, tinted rear glass, ambient lighting, keyless entry, front parking sensors and 180-degree reversing camera. Range topping Max brings higher-grade interior materials, an extended head-up display, heated front seats and steering wheel, hands-free electric tailgate, and Drive Assist Pack 2.0 with semi-autonomous features.
Greg Taylor, managing director of Citroën UK, said: “It’s really important to us at Citroën that the transition to electrification is made as accessible as possible and we price all of our vehicles accordingly.
“The e-C5 Aircross Long Range is the first vehicle of its size and type to receive the full grant, which is testament to the hard work of the team at Citroën to make cars that are practical for all. We welcome the support the UK government is providing to make the transition to electric attainable and are proud that Citroën continues to lead the way.”
The ECG is divided into two levels and vehicles’ eligibility is based on technical and sustainability criteria around their production and its environmental impact.
Currently the Ford Puma Gen-E and Ford E-Tourneo Courier are the only other cars to qualify for the higher grant. Both use powertrains built in the UK. Nissan has also said it expects its Sunderland-built Leaf to qualify for the full £3,750, although this has still to be confirmed.
