Citroen’s new baby takes to the road for the first time this week – and now you will be able to buy an open top version to welcome in the best of summer.

Some 760,000 examples of the C1 have been sold worldwide but the latest is available as an “Airscape” version, which means it comes with a large, electrically opening fabric roof.

The C1 is designed as a fun city car and by ordering the fabric of the sliding roof in a contrasting colour to the bodywork – there is the option of black, grey or red tops – you can heighten that sense of fun as well as making the car attractive.

With the choice of either three doors or five doors the bubbly new offering from Citroen is available from £8,245 up to £11,935 for the top-of-the-range Airscape Flair five-door.

As with the outgoing C1 the new model shares its bodyshell and numerous other components with the new Toyota Aygo and the Peugeot 108.

But while in the past all three models have not varied too dramatically, the new generation brings with it a parting of the waves.

While Toyota has gone for a radical look – aiming for a younger market – with a large frontal X design on the “face” of the car in a contrasting colour to the rest of the bodywork – Citroen has stayed far more conservative, with a more traditional front.

Nevertheless the French car maker says the new car is aimed at the under 30s – mainly female – as well as older couples looking to downsize both economically and practically.

New Citroen C1
New Citroen C1

It will be interesting to see if by playing it safe yet still giving the new C1 a cheeky fun face Citroen scores over its rival by selling just as successfully to both young and older buyers.

The new car offers customers the chance to personalise the interior by opting for a choice of colours on the centre console, air vents, gear lever base and door panel inserts.

A seven inch touch screen displays all the car’s media functions, including DAB radio, telephone and on-board computer but can also be used to display the screen of your smart phone which in turn gives you access to satellite navigation.

The car is available with a choice of either 1.0-litre or 1.2-litre engines, both of which are three cylinder units and both of which are so efficient (below 100g/km CO2) that you will not pay any road tax.

The smaller of the two promises fuel consumption of up to 74.3 miles per gallon while the larger one will still give you more than 65mpg and is sprightly enough to hit 62mph from rest in 11 seconds. It’s available with a choice of five-speed manual or five speed automatic.

As with its predecessor the new C1 is an agile little car ideally suited to city life. It’s nippy enough to offer spirited performance while still being easy on the pocket as far as running costs are concerned.

At the same time as being able to easily carry four passengers – now being slightly longer – it’s an ideal vehicle for slotting into narrow spaces in multi-storey car parks.

Already a best seller for Citroen the all-new, cheekier looking C1 is set to be even more popular after undergoing its latest metamorphosis.