New Car/Review

Citroen Berlingo/ Peugeot Partner

by Paul Negyesi

Vans are usually based on a the small type of the given carmakers' range,like the Opel Corsa, Volkswagen Polo etc. The French Peugeot-Citroen alliancetook the unusual step of creating an independently styled van

After Bertone outlined the basic concept the final version of the carwas the work of the internal design studio. Citroen did this kind of carbefore, but Peugeot never dared to create such novelty.
The five-seater version is the real surprise: it's a normal family car,but with an extended trunk. It's utterly like the new type of Japanesemicro-people-carriers, e.g. the Suzuki Wagon R, which won the JapaneseCar of the Year award two years ago.
The five-seater has a maximum luggage capacity of 644 litres. Main dimensionsare: 4.11 m length and 1.72 m width.
Citroen did everything at the recent Paris Autoshow to promote the newBerlingo. 4 prototypes accompanied the "normal" versions: fun-car, joymobileetc.