Let battle commence. Yesterday morning, the entente cordiale between Peugeot, Citroën and Toyota came to an end.
In the battle for the small city car market, war was effectively declared between the French and the Japanese after four years of co-operation. The suits are out, the advertising campaigns signed off, the sales patter learned off to a tee.
Toyota had come together with PSA, parent of the Citroën and Peugeot, in 2001 to develop and make a small city car. It's a segment in which the three had not really been participants.
The logic of the joint venture was based largely on economies of scale. Any savings, so the idea went, would be crucial in a market where price comes first.
Next to price, of course, comes reliability. So it was logical to the French to team up with Toyota. What's less clear is what's in it for Toyota.
Nevertheless, the throngs of motoring journalists from around the world were greeted in Geneva by three identikit cars: the Citroën C1, the Peugeot 107 and the Toyota Aygo. All powered by a 1-litre petrol engine from Toyota or a 1.4-litre diesel unit from PSA.
According to the marketing spin, all have unique characteristics. But walk around the cars, sit in them, put them to the usual tyre-kicking test - and they seem remarkably similar. Different badges, slight different front bumpers and rear light clusters. Yet, ultimately what we have here is one car with three names.
Toyota's outgoing president, Fujio Cho, says all three share 92 per cent of their components. They're built in the same factory and come off the same production line.
Yet on the stands at Geneva yesterday all the co-operation and conviviality seemed to have passed away as the spin masters embarked on their bare-knuckle fight.
The engineers had co-operated on a level unknown in recent times. A plant in Kolin in the Czech Republic was built: a clear sign that high wages in western Europe are driving car makers towards the east.
PSA was given the task of sourcing and procurement, due to its history and knowledge of European suppliers. Toyota, of course, was put in charge of production. And so it will remain.
Out of a total production of 300,000 cars, 100,000 will be branded Toyota, the rest either Peugeot or Citroën.
Given virtually identical products, this is the clearest test yet of the marketing departments. Toyota seems to already have the advantage. Citroën's C1 looks best of the three, followed by the Peugeot 107 - if for no other reason that the more prominent styling of the front nose. However, the Aygo comes with a strong reputation for reliability and stronger residual values.
The Irish market for such cars is minute. At present small city cars represent less than one per cent of overall sales. The segment is dominated by the Fiat Panda, holding 36 per cent.
Toyota, Citroën and Peugeot hope that their new little cars may triger renewed interest in superminis, as they are referred to. For Fiat, already fighting to hold market share, the three must represent another serious headache.
All three cars are shorter than the Panda, coming in at 3.4 metres. All bear striking similarities to the Smart ForFour, from the speedometer wrapped around the steering wheel to the blacked-out bootlid and the light clusters on the French versions.
At present, prices are being kept close to the chest. Peugeot was the first of the three marques to indicate a price: the 107 will be under €12,000 on the Irish market - in mainland Europe it will be under €8,000.
What we do know is that Toyota is first out with an aggressive marketing pitch. A three-year warranty on the Aygo sees off the French offer of two years on the C1 and 107. But in a market where every euro counts - all are seeking conquest sales from the used car market - price will be the decisive factor for many buyers. After all, there's little else to tell the three apart.