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Peugeot and Citroen Clone Mitsubishis Outlander

A Mitsubishi by Any Other Face

Overseas in Europe, French automaker conglomerate PSA Peugeot Citroen has just announced its latest duet, two seven-seat compact crossover SUVs. The Peugeot version is called the 4007, in line with its new naming scheme, but completely unrelated to the 407 sedan, while the Citroen version will be called the C-Crosser, christened after its many "C-" concept cars. If these machines look familiar to you in the slightest, thats because theyve been seen before by North American eyes: both the Citroen and Peugeot are clones of Mitsubishis new Outlander.
Well get the ball rolling by showing you the original: Mitsubishis new Outlander... (Photo: Mitsubishi) />Where the current Outlanders nose is a bit iffy, the new car wins by a total landslide, especially when parked next to their homely French cousins. The Citroen version doesnt look too bad; the double-chevron stretch grille and thin vertical headlamps appear classy and proportionally appropriate to this SUVs body shell, but the Peugeot

The French are famous for their art, but Peugeots design studio needs a bit of help on this one. (Photo: Peugeot)

is an absolute abomination. Whoever signed off on it must not have seen the development photos or read the internal notes. The hood of the 4007 has the Peugeot logo grafted and built up on a ridge straight down the hood meeting up with a snout that is flanked by oddly proportioned cats eye headlamps and a grille so large it seems as though it could swallow vehicles whole. Aside from the new front sheetmetal, both cars look very much like the Outlander, complete with the kicked-up rear quarter window and triangular rear pillar.
The Citroens nose is better; no beauty queen, but its distinctive. (Photo: Citroen) />Under the skin the C-Crosser and 4007 are pretty well identical to the Outlander, which is no surprise given that all three cars roll out of the same factory in Japan. That means struts up front, a multi-link rear suspension in back and an all-wheel drive system that has three modes, including a locking function for when the going gets really rough. For reference, both SUVs can be operated as front-wheel drive vehicles to save fuel. The interiors of the PSA cars look remarkably similar to that in the Outlander too.

Where the Outlander is available with a gasoline inline-four as well as a larger V6 in North America, the 4007 and the C-Crosser will only be available at launch with a diesel engine. This is no bad

Rear end is a more toned down. The Citroen version looks about the same. (Photo: Peugeot)

thing, considering PSA is one of the worlds leading diesel engine manufacturers. Once again, PSA has shared its development efforts with Ford in order to shave costs on yet another state-of-the-art powerplant. The 156-hp 2.2-liter HDI turbodiesel features many of the same technologies as the 2.7-liter twin-turbodiesel six-cylinder engine, but it advances in green technology by being capable of running on up to 30-percent biodiesel. Thats sort of the equivalent of having a gasoline engine capable of running on E85.

As wonderful as biodiesel sounds, thankfully, North America wont be seeing these two vehicles. But in Europe Citroen and Peugeot have made an agreement with the original designer for sales dates. Though the little SUVs were announced just last week, they wont be going on sale until late spring or summer in order to give Mitsubishi a head start in the sales department.

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