Citroen Brings Back Hot VTR Badge, But Not How You Remember It

Were you a budding car enthusiast during the ’90s and ’00s, and a fan of a certain subculture that involved garish bodykits, massive sound systems and gathering on Weston-super-Mare seafront every Friday night? If so, there’s a decent chance the object of your automotive affections was a Citroen with a VTR badge.

Not quite the fully-fledged hot VTS cars, the warmed-over VTR versions of cars like the Saxo, Xsara and C2 nevertheless offered some of the Max Power-ish looks and a handy performance boost over their more pedestrian siblings. We’re delighted to announce, then, that well over a decade after the badge last appeared, it’s back – this is the Citroen Dispatch VTR, and it’s *checks notes* a van. Oh.

Sibling to the Peugeot Expert and Vauxhall Vivaro, both of which have recently received sporty makeovers of their own, the Dispatch VTR wears a chunky new bodykit complete with a rear spoiler, and some not even slightly subtle VTR striping down the side that might pose a problem to anyone wanting to stick their own company livery on it. It’s topped off with a new set of 18-inch diamond-cut alloys.

Inside, there’s even an actual bucket seat for the driver (though the two passengers still get a standard van-spec bench), plus lots of standard kit and red stitching, industry shorthand for ‘hey, this is sporty!’

You can get the VTR with two powertrains, kicking off with a 2.0-litre diesel that does actually bring genuine performance gains. In the regular Dispatch, it makes 148bhp, but it’s been boosted to 178bhp in the VTR. It comes exclusively with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. There’s also a fully electric version with 134bhp and a 75kWh battery, which Citroen says is good for a range of up to 230 miles.

Should a sporty Citroen van be just what you’re after, pricing kicks off at £42,475 for the diesel and £46,845 for the electric one, the latter taking into account the government’s plug-in commercial vehicle grant. In addition to a panel van, you can get it as a crew van with seating for up to six, too. So, given that Toyota’s Euro van offering, the Proace, is just another rebadge of the Stellantis siblings, how long before we’re treated to a GR Sport version?