INCHCAPE To Show Us How To Sell Citroens?

No matter how good the car is, how many Brisbane people will (a) know the car exists and (b) travel to a regional town to try and perhaps buy. Brisbane customers have been let down by the absence of a capital city dealership. The national distributor has again failed to energise the name of Citroen. There must be a critical number at which a modern dealership decides to engage the market or leave the market. Tavares is correct in seeing Chinese products as the challenge. Even in supply line problem ridden months the local Haval
( GWM ) , Build Your Dreams and LDV dealerships had plenty of cost competitive stock. Mazda are advertising good stock levels at this time too. It is a disappointing state of affairs in this country. As a rusted on believer, sadly I will not take the risk of buying an orphan.
 
Aw come on Peter, where is your sense of adventure and your dare to be different. Nambour is only a 90 minute drive and almost the same on the train, and you can get them serviced in Brisbane.

Cheers, Ken
 
Thanks for your evaluation of the 408PHEV, Ken.

I was interested in your comments about regenerative braking because, as I mentioned in post # 1777, for me it's one of the more interesting and useful features of my Merc. EQA (EV).

I was especially interested to learn how you adjust the level of regenerative braking in the Pug. The Merc. also deploys regenerative braking when you press the brake pedal; however, I'm not sure in my car when the friction brakes come into play. The Merc. has a power consumption dial (in place of a tacho) and you can see the level of regeneration employed when you brake - or when you decelerate - but I'm not aware of any indicator to inform you when friction braking is applied.

Currently, my EQA is averaging 18.3 kWH around town and with some near country driving, but it increases by 2-3 kWH during winter. It seems that the heater (which also optimises the high voltage battery temperature) requires more energy than the air conditioner. Depending on the extent to which the ICE is deployed in a PHEV, perhaps the seasonal energy consumption differential my be less than with a pure BEV.

All interesting stuff - and my apologies for adding to the distraction from the main theme of this thread. Having said that, I too hope that the C5X PHEV supply issue can be resolved and I look forward to seeing Citroen sales increase accordingly.
 
February 2024 Sales

Citroen C3 – 0
Citroen C4 – 6
Citroen C5 Aircross – 5
Citroen C5 X – 2
Citroen Total – 13

Peugeot 2008 – 32
Peugeot 3008 – 39
Peugeot 308 – 30
Peugeot 408 – 5
Peugeot 5008 – 2
Peugeot 508 – 15
Peugeot Boxer – 3
Peugeot Expert – 28
Peugeot Partner – 52
Peugeot Total – 206

Renault Arkana – 28
Renault Captur – 18
Renault Kangoo – 1
Renault Koleos – 144
Renault Master – 167
Renault Megane – 2
Renault Megane E-Tech – 57
Renault Trafic – 97
Renault Total – 514
 
March 2024 Sales

Citroen C3 – 1
Citroen C4 – 1
Citroen C5 Aircross – 3
Citroen C5 X – 4
Citroen Total – 9

Peugeot 2008 – 16
Peugeot 3008 – 24
Peugeot 308 – 10
Peugeot 408 – 5
Peugeot 5008 – 6
Peugeot 508 – 8
Peugeot Boxer – 2
Peugeot Expert – 14
Peugeot Partner – 56
Peugeot Total – 141

Renault Arkana – 31
Renault Captur – 24
Renault Kangoo – 2
Renault Koleos – 122
Renault Master – 167
Renault Megane – 4
Renault Megane E-Tech – 22
Renault Trafic – 161
Renault Total – 533
 
SLC206 said:
March 2024 Sales

Citroen C3 – 1
Citroen C4 – 1
Citroen C5 Aircross – 3
Citroen C5 X – 4
Citroen Total – 9

Peugeot 2008 – 16
Peugeot 3008 – 24
Peugeot 308 – 10
Peugeot 408 – 5
Peugeot 5008 – 6
Peugeot 508 – 8
Peugeot Boxer – 2
Peugeot Expert – 14
Peugeot Partner – 56
Peugeot Total – 141

Renault Arkana – 31
Renault Captur – 24
Renault Kangoo – 2
Renault Koleos – 122
Renault Master – 167
Renault Megane – 4
Renault Megane E-Tech – 22
Renault Trafic – 161
Renault Total – 533
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Many thanks for this. Why do they bother to stock Citroens in Australia?
 
It keeps the brand listed and leaves an option open if and when Stellantis decides to promote its products in Oceania. Take the van sales out and the Peugeot figures aren't the best. Which Stellantis brands are doing well here?
 
Russell Hall said:
It keeps the brand listed and leaves an option open if and when Stellantis decides to promote its products in Oceania. Take the van sales out and the Peugeot figures aren't the best. Which Stellantis brands are doing well here?
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Keeping the options open is true, if expensive considering the dismal sales. I guess we shouldn't kid ourselves that we are much of a market, although VW and Audi and others have been doing the hard yards. Big new VW dealership near me in the last few months.
 
What were Cit and Pug sales back in 2007, 2008?

I suspect that they sell fewer cars in a year now than they used to sell in a month.
When I bought my 307(in 2007), the 307 was the best selling Peugeot in Australia ever. (If I remember right?)
They might have a poor reputation (when I bought mine I was cautioned that the 307 was the worst Peugeot ever) but gee mine was a good car.
But prices of new Pugs now are ridiculous.
 
simca1100 said:
What were Cit and Pug sales back in 2007, 2008?

I suspect that they sell fewer cars in a year now than they used to sell in a month.
When I bought my 307(in 2007), the 307 was the best selling Peugeot in Australia ever. (If I remember right?)
They might have a poor reputation (when I bought mine I was cautioned that the 307 was the worst Peugeot ever) but gee mine was a good car.
But prices of new Pugs now are ridiculous.
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If I recall, our 1995 306 XT with factory sunroof, which gace us 22 years essentially trouble-free motoring, cost less than a comparably equipped Toyota Corolla. There are so few being sold and so little dealer support, that I can't imagine keeping a new one for 22 years, ignoring my age of course...
 
Rob Dommerson with Sime Darby got the sales up to record levels. If I quote numbers from memory I'll be wrong. He knew how to promote the make. But they never got servicing right. They knew it but couldn't fix it. It got worse and caused reputational damage. First time Peugeot buyers didn't buy again and rusted on Peugeot owners started to buy Golfs. There were so many anecdotal tales of how things weren't being done properly, each one with a lost repeat sale. I knew an absolutely rusted on Peugeot owner, 404, 504, 505, 205, 306, 307, 308. The perfect customer, she bought new every few years. But she ended up being given such rough treatment by a dealer and Peugeot Australia over a 308 she bought a Golf.
 
The 4 new cars bought by the family in the two decades from 1991 were all Citroens, the last being the 2010 DS3. When a new car was needed by a family member in 2018 the DS3 was traded on a Honda, due to the "service" experiences with the DS3. Personally I haven't much liked driving the Jazz when I've had to, but it has been trouble-free.
I look at new Citroens from afar, and can't convince myself to walk into a showroom for a closer inspection even though I've been considering a new car to replace the 25 year old Xantia. Speaking to a C5 Aircross owner at s service station recently he told me it was rubbish and not a worthy replacement for the series 1 C5 he had before. I'd have to hear a lot of stories from happy buyers of the brand before I'd be tempted to buy another new one.
 
We have a very satisfied C5X owner in our FCC in Perth. Chatting last Sunday, he said more or less that it exceeded expectations (and he is a long term hydraulic Citroen owner). His one complaint was that the suspension system gave a surprisingly good ride except with three blokes in the back, when it sat on the rear bump stops and was horrible.
 
Nambour is my nearest showroom anyway, closer than Brisbane.

John, possibly the same person who was glad to trade his troublesome C4 Grand Picasso on a C5X over your way recently.
 
Bruce H said:
Nambour is my nearest showroom anyway, closer than Brisbane.

John, possibly the same person who was glad to trade his troublesome C4 Grand Picasso on a C5X over your way recently.
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You know, it might have been! Not 100% sure but he certainly was unhappy with a Picasso. I didn't even know he had one. He had an XM for years and multiple CXs, a C6 and others.
 
Russell Hall said:
A quality dealer will have happy customers. If there is a problem he will take the problem onboard and the owner will still have a positive experience.
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That's a good idea. We should pass it on. My very close Renault dealer has reportedly given up the francise, which was disguised cunningly behind Suzuki badging and quoted me $450 to check a malfunctioning electronic key, the next nearest won't work on cars more than ten years old (I've rarely owned cars LESS than ten years old) and I haven't tried the third.
 
Ateco / Neville managed 3-4,000 Citroens at best, including Berlingo, in the late 2000's, so the current volumes are obviously a mere fraction of that and what is possible with a good range of models. The C5-X and particularly the PHEV with a little extra weight give a very pleasant ride with the progressive hydraulic cushions suspension. I liked the ride and thought it wasn't that much different to what you might feel in many C5s. Even the quite substantial width is not the parking drama it could be with the parking aids it has. I don't know if we will see the PHEV here in volume though considering the 4008 is now available and seems to be attracting the attention. There is a lot of stuff packed into a PHEV, but it's a good choice for someone who can use it mostly in EV mode on local commuting and then doesn't want the range anxiety on a longer trip.
 
This thread now numbers around 1800 posts, quite a few of which contain impressions of contemporary Citroens.

As this set of Forums is the 'home' of "rusted on" Francophiles, is there any merit in creating an 'Impressions' (alternate name welcome) section of aussiefrogs, with subsections for Citroen, Peugeot and Renault and threads for each model within those marques to enable prospective buyers to get owners' (or operators') experiences of the respective models?
 
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