Given his fame for twisted faces and distorted bodies, you'd think Picasso the last person Citroen would name a car after. But with 300,000 sales in the UK so far the boat-shaped Xsara Picasso people carrier has been a work of art for the French maker's profits.
So now Citroen plans to stretch the idea - literally. This expanded, seven-seater Picasso, coming ashore next January, fits alongside the existing car but is based upon the C4 - Citroen's family hatch in those scary dancing robot ads. As part of its cunning plan to offer people carriers of every size, Citroen's 'seven-up' Picasso will plug the gap between the original, six-seater model and the eight-seater C8.
People carriers make good sense and cater for the family's needs, but the hidden subtitle reads 'Please look away, I'm really dull'. Yet maybe - just maybe - things are changing. Even to the untrained eye, it's not hard to spot that this newcomer has more than a little X factor. And the chief difference lies in the windscreen. While normal MPVs have glass that stops somewhere just above your eyebrows, the C4 Picasso's keeps going... and going... extending as far as the top of your head.
You can scoff at the idea as great news for plane spotters, but from the driving seat, there's a remarkable feeling of freedom and space, thanks to this glass bubble effect. Citroen has clever diagrams to show it's also a safety asset, though only perhaps if your morning commute is in danger from homicidal helicopter pilots.
Whatever the logic, it immediately sets this model out from the crowd and makes the interior incredibly bright and breezy. And in case you worry about consequent sunstroke, the sun visors extend on retractable blinds before folding down, so there's no need to squint. Citroen also promises that a chip or crack won't spell financial ruin: a replacement screen shouldn't, I'm told, carry a premium.
Any doubts over build quality associated with Citroen will be trounced by this newcomer: every little detail shows a model that isn't just well designed but has been put together with obsessive care. Cheap plastics are banished; all the textiles and man-made coverings feel expensive and solid and the colour schemes and patterns are subtle and chic.
Clever design reinforces this feel-good mood: spindlier roof support pillars let in far more light and boost visibility, the gearstick sprouts from the dash (or, if you opt for the automatic, is operated from the steering column so allowing an extra central storage bin) and the rear tailgate has a dual-opening feature, so you can flip up the glass to load shopping if someone's boxed you in. Handbrakes are also ditched as needless clutter - replaced by an electronic device operated by a dashboard switch.
