Citroen e-C4

FIRST UK DRIVE A fresh new look helps the latest Citroen e-C4 to stand out from rivals, as does a price drop of almost £6,000

- Alex Ingram

HOWEVER you approach it, £5,600 is a lot of cash to lose. It’s not the sort of loose change that falls down the back of the sofa, and if a bill dropped through your letter box demanding you to pay, chances are you'd be, to put it mildly, miffed.

Yet the new Citroen e-C4 has somehow managed to lose exactly that amount - but in a very good way. The prices of the five-door hatch, plus the saloon-bodied e-C4 X, have dropped by £5,600 compared with the pre-facelift model. As a result, the range now kicks off from £26,295.

That’s £600 less than the cheapest Vauxhall Corsa Electric, a car that sits in the segment below when it comes to size. Similar discounts will be applied to the petrol and hybrid Citroens, too, so the entry-level petrol C4 starts from £22,295.

But this isn’t purely a price reduction, because Citroen has made a few tweaks to update the e-C4 package, too. From the outside, the facelift model has a new front-end look, and features headlights that resemble those of the e-C3.

Around the back, the more blocky lighting graphics and Citroen lettering add a fresher appearance. All trim levels get the same set of 18-inch alloy wheels, while a couple of colours have been added to the exterior palette.