Within the Stellantis automobile factory in Rennes, we knew that the Citroën C5 Aircross and the Peugeot 5008 would make way for a new vehicle from 2025. Until now, few details had leaked, apart from the code name of the project – CR3 -, the brand – Citroën – and the type of car – an electric family SUV, which can be available in hybrid and thermal versions.
We now know a little more today: according to our information, it is a revised and corrected C5 Aircross which will arrive on the Rennes production lines. A model whose first images were presented this Monday, October 14, during the Paris Motor Show. “We are very, very proud to produce this model,” comments a source close to the management of the Rennes site to Le Télégramme.
Commercial launch in 2025
In a press release, Citroën indicates that its future SUV will have five seats and will measure 15 cm longer than the current C5 which is not available in 100% electric form. The new vehicle will be launched commercially “in 2025”. According to our sources, the teams are preparing for marketing “around September-October”, with mass production of models from July.
To be ready, the Rennes site has been the subject of major work for several months. “It’s a real metamorphosis,” confides Didier Picard, CFE-CGC union representative. Ferrage, plastics, battery assemblies… Several workshops have been created or redeveloped by the teams (2,000 employees), who, until January, are simultaneously producing the current C5 Aircross. That of the Peugeot 5008 was stopped last week.
A first step, before a second vehicle?
For the factory, the arrival of a new vehicle is a real boon. Visiting in June 2023, the big boss of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, indicated that this decision was accompanied by an investment envelope of €160 million and ensured the site, moribund in the 2010s, visibility until 2030.
The unions, however, continue to be vigilant. In an interview with Les Échos, Carlos Tavarès, announced to be leaving in 2026, indicated that in the face of growing Chinese competition, factory closures were not excluded in Europe. “In Rennes, it is unlikely that the factory will be targeted since we are launching a new vehicle, but there is always a threat to employment,” estimates Fabrice Lucas, of the CGT. Same story at the CFDT: “It’s less of a short-term subject, but it necessarily worries us for the future. Because we will only depend on one product. If he doesn’t like it, we’ll hit the wall. And when it reaches the end of its life, what will happen? », asks Laurent Valy. For the CFE-CGC, Didier Picard also considers that the site is in a relatively favorable situation. But to “saturate” production capacities, “we must continue to invest”. In particular by providing Rennes with a second vehicle, “a guarantee of sustainability”.
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