2026 Citroen C5 Aircross design ‘95% ready’ for production

The boldly styled concept for the next Citroën C5 Aircross is “95% ready” for showrooms and will usher in a raft of distinctive new design cues for the French brand’s electric era.

Citroën’s largest model will enter its second generation next year, retaining its traditional two-box silhouette but being heavily redesigned as it moves onto Stellantis’s new STLA Medium platform and gains an EV option.

At the Brussels motor show, Citroën designer Pierre Leclercq said that while the show car – shown for the first time last year – is a more outlandish version of what will come to showrooms, it’s nonetheless “95% what we will have in production”.

“This is what we call a teaser,” he told Autocar. “We take a production car, we beef it up and that’s it.”

That means the next C5 Aircross will retain the concept’s distinctive LED headlight signatures and new ultra-slim, horizontal brake-light designs.

It will have a more heavily raked roofline than the current car, too, and is likely to feature flush door handles, a vent motif on the C-pillar and squared-off wheel arches.

Features that are likely to remain on the show stand include the intricate kaleidoscopic wheel designs and the chunky black body cladding.

Leclerq said one of the primary aims of the concept was to show how Citroën’s mid-sized SUV will be differentiated from the Peugeot, Vauxhall and DS models with which it will share its platform.

“Because we developed this on the same platform, we try to be clever with synergies, but we tried to have a vehicle which is really working with our values: family room, functionality and comfort.

“You will also see this in the interior, which goes completely in that direction.”

Citroën has yet to reveal the interior, because it wants to “keep a little bit of meat for the launch”, Leclerq said, but it’s expected to take its lead from the new C3 and C4, introducing new-generation infotainment and functionality but maintaining a focus on utility with plenty of physical controls.

Meanwhile, the car’s upright silhouette is emblematic of Citroën’s brand positioning and ambition, Leclerq said.

“This is a family vehicle. The [related] Peugeot 3008 is a sporty coupé. We have a car that is very vertical in the rear, which shows a lot of interior space.”

“We’re going up for the second row,” he added, referencing the fact that the highest point of the roofline is over the back seats. “That says: ‘hey, this is a car that is also made for the second row.’ This is very much a family vehicle.”

While the smaller C3 Aircross – based on Stellantis’s cost-saving Smart Car platform – has seven seats, the C5 Aircross is described as a five-seater.

However, Leclerq said “we will talk more about that when the car comes out”, suggesting that there is potential for a third row. 

Notably, the related Peugeot 5008 is sold as a seven-seater.