The Citroen C6 will be launched on the Chinese car market in September, and it looks a whole lot better in the rain then it did on the Beijing Auto Show. The Citroen C6 is the new flagship sedan of the Citroen brand in China, and there are no plans for export or for production anywhere else.

The Citroen C6 is basically the same car as the Dongfeng Fengshen A9, with a fancier interior, a slightly different rear, a rather different front, and a higher price tag.

The Citroen C6 and the Dongfeng Fengshen A9 are manufactured alongside each other by the Dongfeng-PSA joint venture. They are both based on the PSA EMP2 platform, which will also underpin the upcoming DS9 sedan which is scheduled to arrive in late 2017.

Dongfeng Motor can use the platform because they are one of the largest shareholders in PSA. Companies also have the long-running Dongfeng-PSA joint venture that makes various other Citroen and Peugeot branded cars for the Chinese market.

The engine too is the same for both cars: a PSA 1.8 liter ‘THP’ turbo with an output of 204hp and 280nm, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission sending power to the front wheels.

The Citroen C6 will compete with cars such as the Ford Taurus, the Buick LaCrosse, and the Toyota Crown. This segment is relatively unknown in Europe but very popular in China. Price-wise the vehicles are positioned just below the 3-Series, A4, and C-Class, but they are usually bigger and more luxurious.

Price of the new C6 will range from around 200.000 to 300.000 yuan.  For comparison, the China-made Citroen C5 starts at 180.000 and ends at 240.000, and the China-made C-Class L starts at 314.000 and ends at 590.000 yuan. Price for the Fengshen A9 starts at 179.700 yuan and ends at 229.700 yuan.

The interior looks good, a bit special as one might expect, and very luxurious. Loads of Nappa leather and wood, and nicely designed vertical air vents.

The touch screen s nice, but the real firework happens in the instrument panel:

Very beautiful, and I love the retro-style speedometer on top. Too bad they made another speedo in the middle. And the tiny tiny rev counter on the left is wuzzy.

In blue with the navigation on.

In red with the iPod playlist on the left, navigation on the right, speed in the middle, and more speed on top.

The center tunnel is acceptable. It doesn’t look very luxurious and not even very well-put together.

Flat seats in the rear, loads of space for the legs.

Buttons on arm rest control the various functions of the seats, like heating and position. The control panel for the aircon is located out of reach in the back-end of the center tunnel, which looks like a…

…. 1980’s robot, but in a good way.

Rear lights are old fashioned giants, but fashionable connected by a thick chrome strip that ends up in said lights themselves.

Big grille is good, bigger grille is God, biggest grille is Citroen. Great looker.

The 1.8 turbo. There seems to be enough space for something bigger and Citroen should offer such. All the competitions sells larger engines, including 2.xx and even V-sixes. The 1.8 is a deal breaker really, it is just too small to be cool and it won’t make the C6 a very quick car.

The 1.8 turbo is also available in the cheaper Citroen C5 and in various DS models, it is the most powerful engine in the Citroen/DS lineup in China. Citroen used to sell a 200hp V6 in the C5, but that engine was cancelled last year. But wouldn’t it be worth something to have a proper new V6 in a car called the C6..?

Tiny pipes for a tiny engine.