INCHCAPE To Show Us How To Sell Citroens?

There's an awful lot of very dead and moribund retail in Oz at present so I wouldn't expect cars to be different.

I spent 40 years working in engineering/environmental/water resources consulting, essentially small business selling skills by the hour. There's ALWAYS someone cheaper, so you have to do it differently, part of which is recognising that some clients aren't for you as they'll always buy cheap, sometimes getting what they deserve and sometimes, to be honest, getting what they wanted.

I just hope the niche for cars that aren't the cheapest doesn't go away. I'd suggest that with proper support and marketing it's possible - just look at what Audi has achieved after the mediocrity of the Fox and the 90/100 rust-series cars.
 
French cars have achieved sales success in Australia at times in the postwar motoring world. Peugeot, Renault, Simca have achieved major sales, less so Citroen. Indeed if we go back 70 years the Peugeot 203, new on the scene, had a market penetration that would equate to annual sales of 15,000 in todays market. There have been marketing errors, low points and high points like the Heidelberg era and as late as the Sime Darby period. Marketers of French cars never received any favours from government and were sometimes damaged by policies and events beyond their control. But much of the damage was self inflicted by overpricing, a poor quality dealer network and an unwillingness to meaningfully address public concerns about the cost of French car ownership. Curiously enough success has gone to firms who understand that the next sale is as important as this one and that customers are not suckers.
 
SLC206 said:
One should never presume with mathematics :) Citroën C3 6 C3 Aircross 3 C4 Cactus 1 C5 Aircross 3 Total: 13 Peugeot 2008 14 208 0 3008 70 308 13 5008 5 Expert 2 Partner 7 Total: 137
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A scathing comment in Feb Herald Sun Motoring supplement-

Citroen sold 13 cars in January, 2 fewer than Bentley.

Ouch!
 
pgti6 said:
A scathing comment in Feb Herald Sun Motoring supplement-

Citroen sold 13 cars in January, 2 fewer than Bentley.

Ouch!
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The market for obscenely expensive cars in Australia is mind-blowing. People appear to be buying them instead of houses.
 
You reap what you sew and just when we thought nothing could've gotten any worse under Sime Darby's attempt at managing the brands, Inchcape have done one better and taken the brands to a new lowly level.

The brands don't even have a PR representative, so having anyone to announce anything that is new and coming to Australia, is zero. Apart form the Peugeot 208 that has been confirmed for 2020, Peugeot has nothing else to confirm, though the 2008 should also be here in 2020 and with Citroen, well there isn't anything new on the way in 2020, so this year is going to be more of the same for them.

Not one of the third party importers have addressed resale value issues, higher than normal servicing and repair costs, marketing of the brands, investing and supporting dealers and technicians and just even looking like they give a hoot. And if all that means outlaying too much money, then why be here at all?

Will Citroen survive 2020, or will they be let go? How many more re-launches are we going to see for Citroen?
 
Just having a thought, now that Holden is gone, could we see Opel return to Australia? Opel will re-launch in Japan in 2021 and PSA are looking for 25 export markets outside of Europe to increase their global reach, so you'd have to think that Australia and New Zealand would also be on that list? There wouldn't be any current Astra or Insignia in the lineup, I think they would wait for the new generation Astra and Insignia before they went there, but they could release the new Corsa, Crossland X, Grandland X and Combo and Vivaro LCV's? Plus, they have EV's ..

Also, I've noticed there just isn't any action happening locally with Citroen and Peugeot, their sales numbers also reflect this, so maybe PSA is looking at dumping Inchcape and finally taking over the brands themselves? Maybe Opel would be included in this too if PSA re-launched all the brands again? If you look at Citroen sales in particular, it's almost like Inchcape are just running out the last of their stock, before PSA comes in. Peugeot sales figures aren't any better either.
 
iLaguna said:
Just having a thought, now that Holden is gone, could we see Opel return to Australia? Opel will re-launch in Japan in 2021 and PSA are looking for 25 export markets outside of Europe to increase their global reach, so you'd have to think that Australia and New Zealand would also be on that list? There wouldn't be any current Astra or Insignia in the lineup, I think they would wait for the new generation Astra and Insignia before they went there, but they could release the new Corsa, Crossland X, Grandland X and Combo and Vivaro LCV's? Plus, they have EV's ..

Also, I've noticed there just isn't any action happening locally with Citroen and Peugeot, their sales numbers also reflect this, so maybe PSA is looking at dumping Inchcape and finally taking over the brands themselves? Maybe Opel would be included in this too if PSA re-launched all the brands again? If you look at Citroen sales in particular, it's almost like Inchcape are just running out the last of their stock, before PSA comes in. Peugeot sales figures aren't any better either.
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Well it would be a shame to lose the insignia, not that Australians seem to care much about them...
 
The latest VFACTS new car sales data has been released for February. It makes very sober reading. New car sales have been in decline for 23 months.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/vfacts-february-2020-new-car-sales-123342.html

Sales by brand for Feb 2020:

Brands Sales Change
Toyota17,6798.1%
Mazda7,230-21.7%
Hyundai5,945-7.5%
Mitsubishi5,513-35.1%
Kia5,1205.4%
Ford4,856-14.5%
Nissan3,804-3.0%
Volkswagen3,633-10.7%
Honda3,522-8.9%
Mercedes Cars2,6732.2%
Subaru2,60328.2%
BMW2,0199.3%
Isuzu Ute1,559-15.7%
Suzuki1,423-11.1%
Holden1,367-64.3%
Audi1,2566.3%
MG1,163128.0%
Lexus7562.3%
Land Rover6893.9%
Volvo Car6390.8%
Skoda58919.0%
LDV5544.5%
Mercedes Vans5300.6%
Jeep466-1.5%
Renault399-39.6%
Porsche36517.4%
MINI2753.4%
RAM22027.9%
Peugeot18719.9%
Haval17798.9%
Jaguar159-3.0%
Iveco134-4.3%
Ssangyong112-
Great Wall10351.5%
Alfa Romeo69-26.6%
Fiat62-38.0%
Maserati5955.3%
Fiat Professional567.7%
Chrysler330.0%
Infiniti32-25.6%
Ferrari3030.4%
Citroen24-7.7%
Bentley14-30.0%
Lamborghini11-21.4%
Aston Martin1011.1%
Genesis5-
Lotus4-20.0%
Rolls-Royce3200.0%
Morgan20.0%
Alpine0-
McLaren0-100.0%
 
And the breakdown of PSA cars sold:

Citroen Berlingo 0
Citroen C3 6
Citroen C3 Aircross 13
Citroen C4 Cactus 0
Citroen C5 Aircross 5
Citroen Dispatch 0
Citroen Total 24

Peugeot 2008 25
Peugeot 208 0
Peugeot 3008 60
Peugeot 308 16
Peugeot 5008 34
Peugeot 508 30
Peugeot Expert 12
Peugeot Partner 10
Peugeot Total 187

It seems curious to me that the C3 Aircross is the strongest seller here.

I’ve always thought the C3 Aircross is the most overpriced; and the C5 Aircross is the most interesting, quality and well priced offering of their current line up.

Why isn’t the C5 Aircross showing better? I really thought that of all models on offer, this would do the best for Citroën when it arrived here.
 
I loathe the styling attempts on current Cits. The mystery to me is the low sales of 508s and 308s.
 
seasink said:
I loathe the styling attempts on current Cits. The mystery to me is the low sales of 508s and 308s.
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And 3008.
Everyone who has a trip in mine is blown away at the comfort, ride quality and interior.

It does ok on windy roads too .. better than others.

None of my friends or colleagues have bought one though.
 
So can we look for a bright side with these figures?

One bright side: car sales are actually up for Citroen.

In 2018-2019, Citroen sold 494 vehicles - but 262 of them were vans. 232 were cars.

So 2018-2019 averaged sales of 19.3 cars a month.

In 2019-2020, Citroen sold 400 vehicles - an overall drop in sales. But they did axe their van lineup towards the end of the year. 280 of their sales were cars.

So 2019-2020 averaged sales of 23.3 cars a month.

2020 has begun with a poor (but traditionally quiet) January: 14 cars sold. February reports 24 cars sold - 24 is right on track for the average of 23.3/month posted last year.

So it is possible there is a little bit of “health” in Citroën’s cars yet. Despite the major (and it is major) downturn across the entire car industry, with sales plummeting pretty much everywhere, Citroen actually sold more cars in 2019 than in 2018, and have started 2020 with a similar figure (if not an improvement.)

There’s got to be a silver lining somewhere....
 
seasink said:
I loathe the styling attempts on current Cits. The mystery to me is the low sales of 508s and 308s.
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DeKa said:
And 3008.
Everyone who has a trip in mine is blown away at the comfort, ride quality and interior.

It does ok on windy roads too .. better than others.

None of my friends or colleagues have bought one though.
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Yes I'm constantly befuddled at Australian car buying habits, and prejudice. Having said that, I am considering a more mainstream car next so I've got more chance of dealers, and of private mechanics to service any new car.

I hope my wife loves the 508 wagon. That thing is simply dripping with style. It would be hard to justify over a Passat 206R line though. But the boss wants an SUV...
 
chuckovski said:
Yes I'm constantly befuddled at Australian car buying habits, and prejudice. Having said that, I am considering a more mainstream car next so I've got more chance of dealers, and of private mechanics to service any new car.

I hope my wife loves the 508 wagon. That thing is simply dripping with style. It would be hard to justify over a Passat 206R line though. But the boss wants an SUV...
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Get a 3008 Hybrid4 then, when/if they arrive.
Related multi-link rear suspension to the 508 (given same platform) and 5.9 seconds 0-100km (so close enough to the VW example).
 
DeKa said:
Get a 3008 Hybrid4 then, when/if they arrive.
Related multi-link rear suspension to the 508 (given same platform) and 5.9 seconds 0-100km (so close enough to the VW example).
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Might be a bit small but I like the sound of it!
 
Peugeot sales have settled back to the long term level set in the 1950's. It is a level commensurate with the reduced size of the dealer network that now leaves large areas of the country without any Peugeot representation.
 
No dealers between Ballarat and Adelaide, how many dealers in the western two thirds of the continent? Any outside Adelaide or Perth?
 
tonyfelix said:
So can we look for a bright side with these figures?

One bright side: car sales are actually up for Citroen.

In 2018-2019, Citroen sold 494 vehicles - but 262 of them were vans. 232 were cars.

So 2018-2019 averaged sales of 19.3 cars a month.

In 2019-2020, Citroen sold 400 vehicles - an overall drop in sales. But they did axe their van lineup towards the end of the year. 280 of their sales were cars.

So 2019-2020 averaged sales of 23.3 cars a month.

2020 has begun with a poor (but traditionally quiet) January: 14 cars sold. February reports 24 cars sold - 24 is right on track for the average of 23.3/month posted last year.

So it is possible there is a little bit of “health” in Citroën’s cars yet. Despite the major (and it is major) downturn across the entire car industry, with sales plummeting pretty much everywhere, Citroen actually sold more cars in 2019 than in 2018, and have started 2020 with a similar figure (if not an improvement.)

There’s got to be a silver lining somewhere....
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Is there a silver lining?

Here are Citroen's figure for the past 9 years.

2011 - 1,415 units
2012 - 1,702 units
2013 - 1,180 units
2014 - 1,307 units
2015 - 1,106 units
2016 - 965 units
2017 - 735 units
2018 - 464 units
2019 - 400 units
2020 - 39 units (First 2 months of 2020)
 
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