Citroën Launching C4 BioFlex in September

20 August 2007

C4 BioFlex.

Citroën is launching the C4 BioFlex in September 2007. The E85 flex-fuel C4 BioFlex will be launched first in France and Sweden, and soon after in other European countries.

The C4 BioFlex is the Citroën’s first flex-fuel vehicle in Europe. Citroën already sells flex-fuel cars in Brazil, where this kind of vehicle accounted for 65% of the brand’s sales in 2006, and more than 80% since the start of 2007.

Fitted with a 1.6-liter engine generating 82 kW (110 hp), the C4 BioFlex cuts CO₂ emissions by 5% over a combined cycle and also reduces fossil-fuel dependency by using renewable energy, according to the company. From “field to wheel”, emissions are reduced by up to 40%.

Citroën boosted the performance of the engine in E85 mode, with a power boost of 2.5% and torque increase of 4%. When running on standard unleaded fuel (SP95), the engine performs practically identically to the 1.6i 16V version.

The engine software has been adapted to include new settings that adjust automatically to the alcohol content in the fuel. Each time the tank is filled, an analysis is made of alcohol content in order to select the best operating curve. During the analysis, the engine functions with “protection” settings compatible with all authorized fuel blends containing between 0 and 85% ethanol content.

Fuel consumption when running E85 is 9.8 l/100km (24 mpg US) combined—an increase of 38% over gasoline’s 7.1 l/100km (33 mpg US). Citroën calculates the CO₂ emissions as 160 g/km for E85, and 169 g/km for gasoline.