PSA presented a vehicle equipped with a system that automatically cuts the engine when stationary and would reduce CO10 emissions by 2%.

Jean-Martin Folz had been talking about it for months, he unveiled it on Tuesday. Two weeks before the Paris Motor Show, the CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën presented the “Stop and start” system. Developed by the equipment manufacturer Valeo, this electrical device automatically cuts the engine of a stopped vehicle to restart it when the driver takes his foot off the brake. This system could reduce fuel consumption in the city by 10% and up to 15% in traffic jams, PSA promises. And to reduce CO2 emissions accordingly.

Before the Citroën C2, then the Peugeot 1007, took over (PSA is aiming for 50.000 vehicles equipped by 2006), it is a special series of the C3, marketed in November, which becomes the first small French car equipped with the "Stop and Start". But other vehicles are already equipped with a similar device. In particular the Toyota Prius hybrid, also equipped with an engine which stops in traffic jams, but which has the additional advantage of running, at low speed, on electricity.

The C3 “Stop and start” will be “almost at the same price or even a little less expensive than an equivalent model integrating all the options”, explained Folz. The classic C3 Sensodrive, which rejects an average of 143 g of CO2 per km, nevertheless costs 550 euros less today than the “Stop and start” version (135 g of CO2).

"It's spectacular", enthusiastic the Minister of Ecology Serge Lepeltier, who did not miss the opportunity to confirm his intention to launch a bonus-malus intended to penalize more polluting vehicles. And who "hopes that the French will seize" the "Stop and start". In 2003, they bought less than 10.000 “clean” cars out of the 2 million new vehicles purchased in France.