Citroen: Aussies can't have it but we can

The road version of the WRC DS3 honours Citreon World Rally successes. Photo / Supplied

A go-fast Citroen DS3 that carries the DNA of this year's World Rally Championship car is to go on sale in New Zealand - after falling foul of Australia's new vehicle regulations.

The DS3 Racing is a limited-edition flyer built to honour Citroen's domination in recent years of the WRC. Only 2000 are being built, coloured either white and grey or green and orange.

The French carmaker's Australian and New Zealand importers, Ateco Automotive, brought the sportiest version of the front-drive DS3 range into Australia to assess whether it would meet the Australian Design Rules standard, regulations governing new vehicle imports.

But the reworked suspension system in the DS3 Racing didn't pass muster and the three-door has been ruled out of Australian showrooms, unlike the rest of the Citroen DS3 range.

Ateco Automotive says it can't justify the cost of making the changes necessary to import it into Australia. Now the one-only DS3 Racing is on its way to New Zealand, paving the way for more imports of the hero model next year.

New imported cars in New Zealand have only to meet the country of origin's automotive standard, whereas Australia has its own rules.

Ateco Automotive spokesman Edward Rowe said from Sydney that the importer had the DS3 Racing thoroughly checked to see if it would meet local design rules or if modification was possible.

"Unfortunately, to make it conform would require a substantial redesign of the suspension," he said.

"And as it is already a boutique suspension design, different from the standard DS3 car on sale in Australia and New Zealand, this would be prohibitively expensive.

"The cars are being built in a fixed production run as a limited-edition model, so modifying the car before production would not be possible."

Rowe said that a week of driving the car in Sydney had reinforced his disappointment that it could not be accepted for the Australian market.

"It is truly a worthy road representative of the car that has delivered both the drivers' and manufacturers' World Rally Championship titles to Citroen this year."

Ateco Automotive NZ general manager Lawrie Malatios said the rejected DS3 Racing would be here before Christmas.

"It's exciting and important for the Citroen brand," he said. "I've seen the car in Sydney but haven't priced it yet.

"I hope to have DS3 Racing for sale here at under $50,000. I will order more early in the New Year and they should be here in April."

The car's suspension was tweaked by Citroen's WRC team. It is stiffer and lower (by 15mm) than the DS3's set-up, and also includes wider front and rear axles, and larger, 18-inch wheels.

There's also more power from the turbocharged four-cylinder, 1.6-litre engine. Where the same engine in the DS3 Sport produces 115kW of power and 240Nm of torque, the DS3 Racing's unit delivers 147kW and 275Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

Citroen claims a zero to 100km/h time for the car of just over six seconds and a top speed of 235km/h.

Kerb weight is 1240kg, and town-and-around fuel consumption is said to be 6.4 litres/100km.

The DS3 Racing is a natural rival to the Mini John Cooper Works, which shares the same engine, albeit in a slightly higher state of tune (155kW).

* The DS3 WRC car driven by Sebastian Loeb delivers 223kW/350Nm from a custom-built 1.6-litre engine that drives all four wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox and front and rear auto-locking differentials.