If you weren’t paying attention, here’s a quick refresher for you. Citroen hiked the prices of its sole offering – the C5 Aircross – last month. That saw the Shine and Feel variants cost Rs 90,000 and Rs 1.4 lakh more than before, respectively. Now, the French carmaker has announced that from January 1, 2022, the SUV in question will receive another price hike. It will cost up to 3 per cent more, depending on the variant chosen. The carmaker says that the rise in commodity costs is the primary enabler behind this development.

The Citroen C5 Aircross is available in four variants – Feel, Feel Dual Tone, Shine and Shine Dual Tone. As of now, the Feel and Feel Dual Tone derivatives cost Rs 31.3 lakh and Rs 31.8 lakh, respectively. However, the latter two wear the same price tag of Rs 32.8 lakh.

No matter which variant you settle for, the C5 Aircross comes with a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel motor that puts out 174bhp/200Nm. Mated to it is 8-speed automatic transmission. As per Citroen, the C5 Aircross can deliver up to 18.6kmpl.

Even if you buy the SUV in its entry-level form, it’ll come with a lengthy list of features. It includes an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, push-button start, dual-zone automatic climate control, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, built-in air purification system and six airbags. Go for either of the Shine variants, and the list expands with a panoramic sunroof, hands-free tailgate operation and LED projector headlamps.

So, if you like the C5 Aircross and you don’t want to pay more to land one in your garage, get your booking in place before 2021 runs out. Otherwise, you have other options in the same price range, including the newly-launched Volkswagen Tiguan facelift, Toyota Fortuner, and the MG Gloster. For the record, the refreshed Skoda Kodiaq is likely to join the party by January 2022 end. Intrigued? If yes, which one would you buy?