Meet the new Citroen C3, which arrives in SA early next year ? about when the brand is understood to return to our shores as a fully-fledged and fully owned franchise of PSA Citroen-Peugeot.

C3 is a vital model for Citroen and takes its bow at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. It will do battle in the a booming B-segment that now counts for a third of all new car sales in Europe and Citroen wants at least a 10 percent slice of that cake to follow on the current car's two million sales.

We know C3's fuel efficiency well, twice winning the Total Economy Run with the original, and now they reckon that new C3 is even more fuel efficient thanks to yet more efficient engines and modest aerodynamic gains to a Cd of 0.30.

Citroen will soon introduce a C3 powered by a 67kW 99g/km CO2 HDi diesel ? the first Citroen under 100g/km ? alongside today's 1.4 HDI and 1.6HDi turbodiesels. That will be followed by a new generation of smaller capacity Stop-Start engines to drive CO2 down below 90g/km CO2 in 2011.

The new diesels will precede a new generation three-cylinder petrol engines emitting less than 100g/km CO2 and no new C3 will emit more than 140g/100km of CO2/km ? better you look sharp if you want to win the Economy Run from next year?

"B-segment customers are changing ? cars like the new C3 are no longer thought of as a second car," Citroen product boss Vincent Besson explains. "They need to be higher quality and have the option of more features but they also need to have lower fuel consumption."

C3 gets a sportier edge, with a tauter profile that gives the car a more dynamic, yet robust appearance ? it also has a more aggressive stance 'to appeal more to men'. Riding a wider track, the new car is still recognisable as a C3 with a rounded shape and now also the option of a 'Zenith? windscreen running up over the roof.

New C3 is slightly longer and just as tall as the old car, its boot is still a handy 300 litres but front passengers get a higher seating position to improve visibility and increase legroom front and rear.

The C3 boasts a redeveloped chassis shared with the Peugeot 207 with a new rear suspension set-up said to enhance comfort and improve noise suppression.

Getting back to Citroen's position in South Africa, some months back, the outgoing Citroen SA boss noted that PSA's new South African headquarters would easily house a second car brand.

Reading between the lines, Citroen would make a perfect match and while the brand has been pretty quiet over the past year, that could just all be about to change. What better way to fire the passion in a brand as big as Citroen than with a car as cool as the all-new C3...?