Almost everyone knows that the Citroën C1 has two brothers. That the original edition of Citroën’s smallest itself also had three different noses, is less known.
The first Citroën C1 appeared in 2005 as one third of the triplets Citroën C1, Peugeot 107 and Toyota Aygo. The trio would soon become very popular and have since become an indispensable part of the European street scene. The characteristic roll of the three-cylinder developed at Daihatsu also makes the ‘citybug’ nice and characterful.
Of course, the triplets came about primarily to save money. In that light, it is striking how much effort the three manufacturers still made to distinguish their version from the other two. The Toyota basically only shares its front doors, roof and windshield with the French pair. The 107 and C1 are more similar, but are also clearly distinguishable from each other.
At least at the front. Peugeot fitted the original 107 with a distinctive ‘smiling’ grille in the bumper, while Citroën sculpted the distinctive black bumper bar for a more rounded air intake. The headlights are also completely different: pointed ones for the 107, highly rounded viewers for the Citroën. At the rear, the differences were limited to the type plates and the color of the rear lights. At Peugeot, the glass was red, while Citroën mounted dark-tinted ones.
2005 (l) and 2009 (r)
All three ‘City bugs’ were modernized twice before the second generation arrived. Citroën provided the car with a tighter front in 2009 with more injected elements. Instead of the widely smeared opening, a narrower, but also somewhat higher model was introduced, which, depending on the version, was fitted in chrome.
2009 (l) and 2012 (r)
In 2012 it was time for another round of refresher. The car was now tackled more firmly, because in addition to the front bumper, the bonnet now also had to die. The cap became even shorter to make way for a higher bumper section. From now on, the logo was included in it, contained in a striking, round opening. Underneath, again, a differently drawn air inlet, this time split into a chrome-decorated element and a black one. LED daytime running lights on both sides of the front prepared the little Citroën for its final years.