Paris, July 10: French car-maker Citroen unveiled the sporty Xsara car on Wednesday, its contender in the fiercely competitive lower mid-sized segment dominated in Europe by the Volkswagen Golf.

The Xsara - pronounced Exara - will go on sale in France and Germany in September after a formal debut at the Frankfurt car show, Citroen officials told a news conference.

Measuring 4.17 metres, the Xsara is slightly longer than its predecessor, the ZX which is being retired after six-and-a-half years. It fits in Citroen's model lineup between the Xantia and the relatively new little Saxo rolled out in December 1995.

"Our efforts to revitalise Citroen continue. In the next five years, not one will go by without our launching a new car or thoroughly restyled version of an existing model," the chairman of Citroen and its parent the PSA Peugeot Citroen group- makes Peugeot cars - Jacques Calvet said.

Citroen's bid to accelerate the pace of its model renewalreflects tough competition in Europe resulting from excess capacity by carmakers which had counted on faster sales growth.

The French car-makers have trailed some of their bigger rivals, although Renault scored a smash hit with the Scenic minivan version of its lower mid-sized Megane.

"One of the areas in which the Peugeot group has fallen down is that it hasn't been spitting the models out fast enough, and they haven't had the product punch of rivals like VW and Fiat," said analyst John Lawson at Salomon Brothers.

The Xsara, which will be available in three- and five-door versions and with diesel or petrol engines, cost 4.8 billion francs to produce, including 2.2 billion in development costs.

"We wanted it to be beautiful and modern without being ostentatious," Calvet said of the car.

The Xsara has fluid lines and discreetly eye-catching touches such as the slanted headlamps and decorative grill with the trademark chevrons.Its interior features innovative details to attract consumers spoiled for choice, such as a radio volume control on the steering wheel and a pollen- and particulate filter.

The car will be produced at the Citroen plants at Rennes, in Brittany, and at Vigo in Spain. Citroen is targetting sales of 100,000 Xsaras in France next year, slightly over the ZX's best ever sales levels of 98,574 in 1992.Citroen is seeking 260,000 sales in Western Europe, or two per cent of the market, and 20,000 sales outside Europe next year.

The lower mid-range segment represented 3.9 million car sales last year, or 31 per cent of the total European market. In France, the leader of the segment, which accounted for 606,272 sales, is the Megane with 23.4 per cent.Citroen did not disclose the sticker price of the Xsara.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.