This is what the Citroën C4 Cactus (2025) would look like

Citroën also has compact cars that some in the scene mourn. This includes the C4 Cactus, which was withdrawn from the market in 2020. Seen in the rearview mirror, he embodied many of the brand's traditional virtues. Lightweight construction and intelligent innovation in the compact class were its strengths.

Which may have been communicated too little. What's exciting is that the C4 Cactus, although no longer available for 5 years, would look like a 2025 model with a few small design tricks. Adapted with new Citroën brand signaling and the appearance of upcoming vehicles.

This is what the Citroën C4 Cactus (2025) would look like

The Citroën C4 Cactus, which rolled into showrooms 10 years ago, was obviously ahead of its time. The Doppelwinkel brand placed a bold hatchback cross-over in the compact car segment that boasted special features. They were special Airbumbs, which is prominently visible on the body and should protect it from damage. They stood for robust functionality, but also created a need for conversation.

Quite a few considered them ugly and rejected them rigorously. Others saw them as great and missed them when they almost disappeared during the first facelift. However, one could not see a strength of the Citroën C4 Cactus that was particularly sustainable. The compact car was lightweight and the engineers managed to keep the total weight at around one ton by using plenty of aluminum and small tricks.

Intelligent lightweight construction that was almost forgotten.

Innovatively driving in the tire tracks of the icons

The C4 Cactus was as innovative as the body construction. The windshield wipers transported the water directly to the windshield, which was already the case in the BX and which in turn led to lower water requirements and a small water container. True to the motto – less water also means less weight.

What was possible was also minimized in the interior, a central display took over the most important functions, the rear windows were not retractable for weight and cost reasons and the passenger airbag was hidden in the roof in favor of a slim dashboard.

The C4 Cactus thus followed in the traditional tire tracks of those Citroën icons, which had always focused on the essentials. In the beginning, this did not affect the success in Germany; in the best years, more than 5.000 vehicles found their way from Citroën dealers to customers.

When marketing strategists decided to discontinue the C4 Cactus, sales dragged on into 2021 and the absence of the unconventional compact car left a gap in the model range. The hatchback crossover is missed, because how else could the high prices for used cars be explained?

Convincingly a model year 2025

Good, well-maintained examples with around 50 or 60.000 kilometers are traded for almost €20.000 on well-known platforms. And that even though the Citroën C4 Cactus is already 5 or 6 years old, while Citroën is producing the new C4 (Link) for comparable money. However, it is perceived as much more conventional and less innovative than the Cactus.

With KDesign (Link), a Brazilian freelancer took care of the C4 Cactus and trimmed it for the 2025 model year. A few minor interventions seem to be sufficient - because the Citroën C4 Cactus fits into the manufacturer's official range again. As a result, one can say that designer Mark Lloyd, who also lent a hand on the DS 3 (Link), actually delivered a good, long-lasting design.

The desired combination of quirkiness and simplicity, as Lloyd put it in 2014, has remained valid.