INCHCAPE To Show Us How To Sell Citroens?
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
From drive.com.au: Citroën here to stay, despite selling fewer cars than Ferrari!
That is a rather stark point!
Is this a new measure of car sales? I can't wait for the column to be added to VFACTS reports.
You forgot to include Ferrari sales:
22
22
The Expert Van is the success story, obviously some good deals offered to commercial and fleet operators.
If you take the 120 odd light coms back to Citroen that evens it back up berlingo/ dispatch always outsold partner/ expert something about Peter and Paul
Gary Quinlan • 5 hours ago
Just looking through the numbers provided by Kez (thanks Kez) there are more than a few brands that can't crack 500 units per month across all their models. Excluding the higher priced marques like Porsche, this just can't be viable long term either to the importer or the dealers. The costs of homologation, ongoing support such as carrying spare parts etc and having any clout with the overseas factory just don't make sense for the importer and the costs of training staff, floor space et al equally do not make sense for a dealer who could commit the same cost on a more popular brand and recoup it faster.
They basically become city cars as who would buy them in rural Australian towns where you may be several hours drive from a dealer and have to wait days if not weeks for spare parts.
Just looking through the numbers provided by Kez (thanks Kez) there are more than a few brands that can't crack 500 units per month across all their models. Excluding the higher priced marques like Porsche, this just can't be viable long term either to the importer or the dealers. The costs of homologation, ongoing support such as carrying spare parts etc and having any clout with the overseas factory just don't make sense for the importer and the costs of training staff, floor space et al equally do not make sense for a dealer who could commit the same cost on a more popular brand and recoup it faster.
They basically become city cars as who would buy them in rural Australian towns where you may be several hours drive from a dealer and have to wait days if not weeks for spare parts.
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On your last point, I know a bloke who lives 20 miles down a dead end dirt track in a forest in NSW way beyond nowhere and any dealer. He drove a Citroen C3 from new for years. His older 4WD work vehicle is unregistered and can't leave the place. Back seat down and tailgate up, the little Cit could carry a surprising load of the usual dirty rural stuff as well as the big periodic shopping trip and was never broken by the ruts. He still has it, now unregistered.
He serviced it himself. The couriers with parts would go only as far as the district post office, where he picked things up.
He serviced it himself. The couriers with parts would go only as far as the district post office, where he picked things up.
Not my point. Comment lifted from Car Advice.
His point that cars do not sell in rural areas where there is no service is quite true. Some people who really like a car will take it up country and take it hundreds of k's back to be serviced. If there's major trouble the cost of a tilt tray is large. For the past few months in Victoria people have had to stay in their local areas and travel for car service has not been allowed. So the importance of local dealers has been underlined. I am in a travel bubble and I could not have a French car serviced. I was refused permission to go 65k's to have a car serviced by the selling dealer on the other side of the border.
His point that cars do not sell in rural areas where there is no service is quite true. Some people who really like a car will take it up country and take it hundreds of k's back to be serviced. If there's major trouble the cost of a tilt tray is large. For the past few months in Victoria people have had to stay in their local areas and travel for car service has not been allowed. So the importance of local dealers has been underlined. I am in a travel bubble and I could not have a French car serviced. I was refused permission to go 65k's to have a car serviced by the selling dealer on the other side of the border.
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NRMA Roadside Assistance is definitely worthwhile - wife and I got delivered home at 2:00am with our vehicle on the tilt-tray last Monday morning. Was it a Pug or a Citroen? No, it was our Landcruiser!
What's more, it's not going to be a quick fix. Part of the problem is that local mechanics who are any good have a 2-3 week backlog of work, so even getting someone to look at is difficult.
None of my (registered) French cars have ever come home on a tilt tray...
What's more, it's not going to be a quick fix. Part of the problem is that local mechanics who are any good have a 2-3 week backlog of work, so even getting someone to look at is difficult.
None of my (registered) French cars have ever come home on a tilt tray...
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Certainly true anything can give trouble but your dealer is unlikely to be four or five hours away. I've had Mazda utes on tilt trays three times and each time the dealers gave priority assistance to a work vehicle. I've also seen a newish Citroen come into the RACV garage on a tilt tray and leave the same way after the mechanics had spent a day on it. The service manager who was a capable chap told me he had no idea why the thing wouldn't run. As Quinlan from Car Advice says cars without rural dealers are city cars.
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November:
Citroen Berlingo 0
Citroen C3 3
Citroen C3 Aircross 7
Citroen C4 Cactus 0
Citroen C5 Aircross 16
Citroen Dispatch 0
Citroen Total 26
Peugeot 2008 1
Peugeot 208 0
Peugeot 3008 73
Peugeot 308 32
Peugeot 5008 22
Peugeot 508 13
Peugeot Boxer 10
Peugeot Expert 26
Peugeot Partner 12
Peugeot Total 189
Citroen Berlingo 0
Citroen C3 3
Citroen C3 Aircross 7
Citroen C4 Cactus 0
Citroen C5 Aircross 16
Citroen Dispatch 0
Citroen Total 26
Peugeot 2008 1
Peugeot 208 0
Peugeot 3008 73
Peugeot 308 32
Peugeot 5008 22
Peugeot 508 13
Peugeot Boxer 10
Peugeot Expert 26
Peugeot Partner 12
Peugeot Total 189
Peugeot 308 still selling well. Easily the best hatch on the market in Australia so it's good to see even as it approaches end of life and has undergone some significant changes (steps backward in my view) people are still considering them. I really hope Peugeot don't give up on the hatchback market, there are still many who find this body style ideal for their needs and have no interest in SUV's.
Surprising that only one 2008 has been sold though. I think they got the pricing very wrong with that car, it's too expensive for a small SUV.
Surprising that only one 2008 has been sold though. I think they got the pricing very wrong with that car, it's too expensive for a small SUV.
Selling 32 cars in a market of 95,000 vehicles is not selling well.
On the contrary, selling 32 308s in a market of 95,000 SUVs is selling well.
32 is 308's best sales figures since Oct 2019 and only in four months of 2019 did they sell better.
The 2008 didn't officially go on sale until Dec, so any "sales" before that (7 in Oct and 1 in Nov) were almost certainly press/demonstrator cars. There probably wasn't any available stock for private registrations.
This isn't 1950. When other makers are selling small hatches by the thousands selling one per dealer per month is pathetic. Figures like that are good for high end luxury cars but are found with fag end operations of failed European import operations like Alfa Romeo and FIAT.
Exactly right. Toyota sold 2744 Corollas in November. That's 91 a day. Toyota sold 39 86s, a niche model out of production that is about to be replaced. If you want a more direct comparison, VW sold 626 Golfs, again a model about to be replaced.
With PSA and FCA about to become Stellantis, I wonder what the future holds. Imagine the same platform beneath 308, C4, Astra, Giulia and I dunno, Neon?
Will any of them be sold here?