Citroen rethinks small cars with tiny six-seat supermini

Citroën has revealed a tiny, innovative six-seat family car that aims to prove that "the return of the MPV is absolutely not boring".

Called the ELO – its name taken from the second letters of rest, play and work – the radical new concept shows how car interiors can be reinvented to offer impressive levels of space and flexibility in a compact footprint.

At 4.1 metres long, the ELO is shorter than even Citroën's current C3 city car, but has room for one more passenger and even has a back seat as wide as that in the flagship C5 Aircross SUV.

Unwrapping the show car at Citroën's Paris HQ, company boss Xavier Chardon hailed it as a statement of intent for how the brand plans to challenge the established conventions of car design as it moves into a new era.

"Everybody thought that the MPV would be dead because they have SUVs," he said, adding that such cars are generally perceived to be "cooler, fresher, younger..."

But Citroën, he added, "is shaping habits and coming with new entrants" which aim to serve as alternatives to SUVs and crossovers, with smaller footprints but similarly practical and roomy cabins - as demonstrated by the ELO.

"It is the perfect manifesto for how life can feel better with Citroën."

That sentiment was echoed by head designer Pierre Leclerc, who said the ELO follows in the footsteps of the legendary 2CV people's car – and latterly the diminutive Ami city car – in using a novel interior concept to "create an incredible lifestyle".

"All the studies show us that people want their car as a third place to live, because they want freedom but also privacy," he said.

"The brief of this project was very simple: we wanted to revolutionise the interior in a very small platform."

One of the headline features of this radical new cabin concept is a novel three-by-three interior configuration, with a McLaren F1-style central driving position. Leclerq said this is a logical format for urban motoring – "if you're in the centre, you're going to have good visibility towards the outside" – and added that it can be a boon on longer trips, too: "The kids want to drive next to mama or papa when they go on vacation."

The driver's seat features its own suspension, in the form of foam blocks inside its frame, and comes with a desk attachment for working on the go. The front passenger chairs, meanwhile, can be removed and stowed inside the rear row when they aren't needed.