The All-New Citroen C3 begins it's sales push on Boxing Day ready for an on sale date early in January.

The striking New Citroën C3 officially goes ‘on sale’ in the UK on Tuesday 3 January 2017. Order books are already open for customer orders, cars are now on display in Citroën showrooms and the New C3 TV advertising campaign begins on Boxing Day. 

This latest Citroën supermini brings new levels of advanced comfort, the latest technologies and an array of personalisation options to the supermini sector.

• New Citroën C3 offers a sense of well-being and serenity, thanks to the Citroën Advanced Comfort® programme.
• New C3 sees the world premiere of ConnectedCAM Citroën™, which features an integrated on-board HD camera that can instantly share pictures and videos via social media.
• With 3 roof colours and 9 body colours available, New C3 provides a total of 36 colour combinations to choose from.  
• Prices start from just £10,995 MRRP OTR.

New Citroën C3 is now available to order in the UK, with prices starting from just £10,995 OTR for the Touch trim level, from £13,045 OTR for Feel versions and from £14,795 for Flair models. The official ‘on sale’ date is just days away – Tuesday 3 January.

With more than 3.6 million examples sold globally since the first-generation C3 was launched in 2002, including 200,000 in the UK alone, Citroën has renewed its best-selling model. 

Optimistic, human and smart, New C3 is everything you would expect from the Citroën brand. It is colourful, stylish, brimming with new technologies, supremely comfortable and boasts a bold, fun-loving personality.

Bold exterior design

Highly customisable and with a distinctive design, New C3 offers a level of energy and personality that is unique to the supermini sector. With 3 roof colours to choose from, and a total of 9 body colours, New C3 provides a total of 36 exterior colour combinations. 

The bold new design at the front gives a strong impression of robustness and the black window pillars create the appearance of a floating roof to help accentuate the dynamic stance of the car. The deliberately high bonnet line and purposeful wheel arch extensions give New C3 a definite crossover character.

Offering personality, style and protection, New Citroën C3’s signature Airbump® panels guard against everyday dents and scrapes. The Airbump® panels themselves, which are optional, can be specified with a white or red motif, depending on customer preference.

At the rear, the 3D lights showcase the high-tech identity of New C3. The newly-designed chevrons and C3 badge now appear in black with a chrome surround.

On-board well-being

The spacious interior of New Citroën C3 takes inspiration from the worlds of travel and interior design. The customer has a choice of three interior finishes, including two optional upgrades – ‘Urban’ Red and ‘Hype’ Colorado. Each ambiance delivers a sense of harmony, expressed through the soft and welcoming textiles used throughout the cabin.

The Citroën Advanced Comfort® programme has directly influenced the creation of New C3, delivering a sense of serenity, comfort and calm inside the cabin. The sense of well-being starts with the comfortable seats and extends to the panoramic glass sunroof that fills the car with natural light. 

New C3 has one of the most spacious cabins in the supermini sector and provides 22mm more rear legroom than the previous model, and a 300-litre boot. 

There are plenty of generous storage compartments too. The door pockets are even finished with a light colour, making it easier to find items like keys or a mobile phone in poor light.

Up-to-the-minute technologies

The ConnectedCAM Citroën™ technology makes its first appearance in New C3. Featuring a wide-angle HD camera (positioned just behind the rear-view mirror), GPS technology and a 128GB memory, it has two main functions. 

ConnectedCAM Citroën™ can be used to safely take photos or videos that can be instantly shared via social media using a free app. It also operates as a conventional dashcam in the event of an on-road incident.  

With GPS as part of ConnectedCAM Citroën™, the driver can also locate their vehicle when it has been parked in an unfamiliar location.

New Citroën C3 also features a 7-inch colour touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard that provides intuitive access to all of the main vehicle controls, including CitroënConnect Nav. This latest-generation navigation system is both touch and voice activated. 

Not only does it access connected services such as TomTom Traffic to provide live traffic updates, but it can also highlight known accident blackspots, enhancing safety as well as convenience.

New Citroën C3 also features MirrorLink® and Apple CarPlay™, a reversing camera and hill-start assist. Technologies for safety include a lane departure warning system, blind-spot monitoring and a driver attention alert.

PureTech and BlueHDi engines

New C3 comes with a choice of efficient PureTech petrol and BlueHDi Diesel engines. There is a choice of three PureTech three-cylinder petrol engines: PureTech 68, 82 and 110 (Stop & Start), and two Diesel powertrains: BlueHDi 75 (Stop & Start) and 100 (Stop & Start). All of the PureTech petrol engines are versions of the International Engine of the Year winner in 2015 and 2016.

For the ultimate in driveability and comfort, the New C3 PureTech 110 S&S Flair will also gain Citroën’s EAT6 automatic gearbox from February 2017.

Model range and pricing

TRIM	ENGINE	CO2 (g/km)	MRRP OTR
Touch	PureTech 68 manual	108	£10,995.00
	PureTech 82 manual	108	£11,695.00
	BlueHDi 75 S&S manual	92	£13,295.00
Feel	PureTech 68 manual	109	£13,045.00
	PureTech 82 manual	109	£13,745.00
	PureTech 110 S&S manual	103	£14,945.00
	BlueHDi 75 S&S manual	93	£15,345.00
	BlueHDi 100 S&S manual	95	£16,045.00
Flair	PureTech 82 manual	109	£14,795.00
	PureTech 110 S&S manual	103	£15,995.00
	BlueHDi 100 S&S manual	95	£17,095.00

Vauxhall to launch an all new advertising campagn for the new Astra hatchback, ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’

Vauxhall Motors will deliver a knock-out ad on Boxing Day with the launch of their ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’ campaign.  The creative is an exhibition of everything that makes the new Astra brilliant, and makes no excuses in boasting the vehicle’s remarkable attributes through a host of demonstrations.

Whether the envy of the 4G WiFi capability from a passenger of another car, a fox avoiding collision due to the IntelliLux LED matrix lights or an impressed café dweller reading the 5-star review from Auto Express; the real-life examples show the extraordinary level of quality from the new Astra.

Simon Oldfield, Sales and Marketing Director for Vauxhall Motors commented on the campaign, ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’ conveys the surprise when people realise how Vauxhall is raising the bar. 

Already heavily-lauded by the motoring press, the all-new Brit built Astra takes huge steps forward in terms of quality, design and connectivity.  At 200kg lighter than its predecessor, with new powertrains and cutting-edge technology, the new Astra is set to shake up the C-segment.”

The ad appropriately features the British anthem ‘Oh my God’ by Kaiser Chiefs and will be rolled-out across TV, cinema, digital, poster, print, national retail communications, CRM, POS, social and PR.  

The TV campaign will encompass a 30-second advertisement with spots secured in key programmes and sporting events across the Christmas period, such as 'Coronation Street’ and Premier League football on Sky. 

There will be a focus on male programming, with Sky Atlantic programs such as ‘Fortitude’, ‘Blue Bloods’, and ‘The Pacific’.

Cinema activity will commence on Friday 8^th January 2016 targeting the cinema ‘awards season’ with a 30-second ‘Kids’ showcasing the class leading rear heated seats and the surprise of children discovering them.  Digital activity will include the ad ‘Fox’ which demonstrates the Astra’s IntelliLux LED matrix lights through a fox’s encounter with the new Astra. 

Key films featuring the ad will be ‘The Danish Girl’ starring Eddie Redmayne and ‘Trumbo’ starring Bryan Cranston. A poster campaign will support, ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’up and down the UK.

The campaign will also come with a strong digital presence. Throughout January and February there will be takeovers of key automotive pages such as Auto Trader, Auto Express and Parkers, with the motto, ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’ at the very forefront. 

Social activity will be orientated around the surprise-factor of the new Astra across Facebook and Twitter, showcasing 9 individual’s respective surprised reactions to the vehicle’s astounding capabilities and impressive features.

New Brit-built Vauxhall Astra – In Numbers:

• One in four Britons has owned or driven an Astra
• c25% of a Vauxhall Astra is sourced from British sourced materials
• It takes approximately 24 hours to build an Astra, from sheet steel to the finished article – this is expected to reduce to just 22 hours as production grows
• 3 million Astras have been sold over the past 36 years - 50,000 in the past 12 months
• 5 million vehicles have been manufactured at Ellesmere Port, with 2 million exported to 25 European markets
• The Ellesmere Port plant will build approximately 680 cars per day and 120,000 per year

The campaign was created by advertising agency McCann UK.  Paul Dean, Managing Partner, McCann said, “When planning the creative execution for this campaign, we wanted to bring to life two key elements – surprise and affirmation. 

“With the new Astra boasting some of the latest technology, we knew this would create a surprise factor amongst consumers, as this level of specification wouldn’t necessary be associated with an Astra. The creative shows various ‘surprised’ reactions, with a focus on dispelling any preconceptions – which again creates the element of surprise that, ‘Yes, it’s an Astra’.

“It was also important to assert a sense of pride that we should have for the Astra. It’s a car made in Britain, therefore the ad needed to have an authentically British feel, from the landscape to the music, to develop a sense of camaraderie for the Astra and how it’s evolved throughout the years.”

The new Vauxhall Astra brings together clever engineering with premium design to give it serious presence. Cleaner, more economical, and complete with OnStar, your personal on-board assistant. Priced from £15,295.

Honda launches new advertising campaign that includes planes, bikes, cars, F1 and more (& the new NSX)

Honda’s latest brand campaign, entitled Ignition, is set to launch this Friday on Channel 4 during Eight out of Ten Cats Does Countdown.

The 90 second film, which is available on Honda’s YouTube channel, pays homage to space flight and opens on ASIMO, the camera reveals the new 2015 Honda fleet on a runway which when viewed from above mimics the shape of a space shuttle or rocket, and as the film unfolds more of the fleet and drivers is revealed.

  

Honda’s rich heritage is woven throughout the film, with the driver of the new NSX captured looking at a picture of the original 1990 NSX held in his hand. Keen viewers will also spot a very special cameo from McLaren-Honda driver, Jenson Button and the voice of the late, great Ayrton Senna.

As the film, which was shot on location in Ukraine, reaches its crescendo the Honda fleet looks set to take off, with smoke, mist and frost billowing from the rear of the rocket formation, symbolising the current position the Honda brand currently occupies, with the entire range refreshed or new since the start of the year.

The brand campaign is supported by 10 second teasers on TV that will build excitement ahead of the premiere.  On social, five to ten second teasers have been rolling out in the week building up to the campaign launch, while on mobile, smart phone users will feel the vibration of the rocket, with phones vibrating in sync with sound and vision.

The creation, delivery and implementation of the Ignition marketing campaign has been led by Kate Barrett, the Honda UK Marketing Communications Manager.  Planning started at the tail end of 2014, with Barrett briefing in Wieden + Kennedy and Starcom MediaVest to deliver a highly impactful campaign which signifies the importance of 2015 for Honda.

Philip Crossman, Honda UK Managing Director commented: “In March we had the oldest product line up in the industry but come the start of September we will have the newest.  This Ignition campaign is the perfect representation of where the brand currently sits and what we are about to experience.  We have a rich heritage in creating unique and memorable advertising campaigns which engage and excite, and Ignition is the perfect platform to build on this.”