The SUV party has been going solidly on for a number of years now - Citroen must have known, because all the cool people have been there for ages, but now it's rocking up somewhat late with the C-Crosser, its soft-road bottle of cheap red.
Just as they did with the Aygo/107/C1, the PSA siblings Peugeot and Citroen have teamed up with another manufacturer to pad out a niche in which they were lacking - city cars, in that case. Here the PSA firms have linked up with perennial underachiever Mitsubishi for its 4x4 expertise.
Essentially, the C-Crosser is a restyled version of the Mitsubishi Outlander, although along with its sister car the Peugeot 4007 it remains recognisable as the Outlander. You do wonder if buyers will ultimately be convinced, but Citroen does need an SUV in its range if wishes to remain competitive and such strategic tie-ups mark a common sense approach. It has to be said, though, that in taking on an established car, Citroen has lost the chance to take the market on a step.
The car ticks all the right boxes - five permanent seats and room for two children on fold-out chairs in the boot, which has a flat floor and 510-litres of space (when there aren't any children in there). There's lockable four-wheel drive, a pleasant if unimaginative interior which tends to feel a little cheap, decent equipment as standard, reasonable economy and confidence-inspiring weighty steering.
It's all exceedingly average, actually - there's not a particular area where the C-Crosser does anything distinctly better than the opposition. This is mainly because Citroen has played catch-up and done no more.
It's all very well hanging back when fashions change, but if you're going to enter a segment late then you need to raise the bar, like BMW did with its SUVs. The Citroen's ride is fairly impressive, but then the cabin gets noisy at speed - the C-Crosser isn't quite as refined, say, as a Freelander.
Which is where the problem develops. At more than £27,000 in 2.7 HDI Exclusive trim, the C-Crosser is priced above the class best, Toyota's RAV4 and Land Rover's Freelander. It's admirable of Citroen to be so aspirational with their first effort at an SUV, but it really needed to have been somewhat better than average to justify the large price tag, and ultimately Citroen brings nothing new to the SUV party with the C-Crosser.