Citroen is aiming directly at MINI John Cooper Work's territory with its scorching hot new DS3 Racing sport model that will make its world premiere at next month's Geneva Motor Show.
Developed by Citroen's Racing division that handles the French firm's WRC cars, the special edition version of the DS3 hatch comes with a beefed up 1.6-liter turbo engine, modified chassis and a bevy of styling upgrades. It will go on sale in the second half of the year with production limited to 1,000 units.
Power comes from a tuned version of the standard model's Peugeot-Citroen PSA and BMW Group co-developed 1.6-liter turbocharged four. Citroen Racing's engineers modified and optimized the powertrain components, tuned the turbo, reconfigured the ECU and added a special tail pipe and muffler.
These upgrades boost the engine's output from 156HP and 240Nm to 200HP and 275Nm or 202.8 lb-ft of peak torque.