INCHCAPE To Show Us How To Sell Citroens?

Citroen: C3 sales are booming; almost, nearly, kind of, just about double last month. The're on a roll! Seems that the overpriced, under-diesled C5 aircross isn't on the same stellar trajectory though.
I find that a little odd. Upon launch, the C5 Aircross really wasn’t badly priced. Not hugely cheap, but (for a Citroen) it seemed relatively competitive in the market. A number of reviewers and commentators said the same thing, that it was a pretty good price.

Whereas the C3 is probably the most “definitely overpriced” of the current Citroens. All Citroen models (well all three of them) jumped in price by about $3000 about a year ago. But the C3 definitely isn’t competitively priced amongst similar cars in the market.

But the C5 Aircross here should always have had the 8-speed auto and bigger engine, it surely should have been a no-brainer. New Zealand got that car, why didn’t we?

(That said… it doesn’t matter the RRP of the car, I can’t imagine many are sold at full price, there is always wiggle room. Certainly was for me.)

Anyway, I think what we are just seeing is the result of some stock slowly coming on the market. The poor sales recently haven’t just been to do with poor sales; there has been no stock in the country to sell. For months and months. I hope the C5 Aircross picks up a few more sales, as it’s still a pretty good proposition IMHO.

My hopes: that we see the C5X here, and ASAP. And that we see the electric C4 here soon. I would hugely consider an electric version of either the C4 or the C5X; but I’m not likely to upgrade my current car until I can buy an electric one.

My father is keen to buy an electric car, and I had him primed to get an eC4 when they arrived on the market. It has been disappointing they haven’t announced it here, and sad that my father will probably buy some other brand. Oh well.

EDIT: and WHY oh WHY now that Australia has no manufacturing of its own - WHY don’t we as a nation align our safety standards and other various standards with whatever the UK standards are? It would make it so much easier and cheaper for manufacturers small and large to bring cars into the Aus market, rather than jumping through various local hoops, requiring separate production just for our relatively small market.
 
Chip shortages knocked Stellantis production by 11% in the first three months of the year but the position is improving. Shortage of Australian stock may mean it has not been ordered or Stellantis has decided to downgrade its position in this market. Given the Australian cars are based on the UK models, I note that there is no shortage at all of these with nearly 17000 Citroens being delivered in the first half of 2021, an increase of 45% over last year and 35,000 Peugeots, up 62%.
Australian sales of around 2000 cars and 1000 vans a year are probably realistic given the "premiumised" pricing of the cars.
 
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EDIT: and WHY oh WHY now that Australia has no manufacturing of its own - WHY don’t we as a nation align our safety standards and other various standards with whatever the UK standards are? It would make it so much easier and cheaper for manufacturers small and large to bring cars into the Aus market, rather than jumping through various local hoops, requiring separate production just for our relatively small market.
Absolutely, our standards should match other right hand drive markets. That would allow a greater diversity of vehicles and - possibly - lower prices.
Australia is a pretty small market. We need our standards aligned with somewhere else to make, especially euro offerings, competitively priced and equipped, imho.
Its quite sad to see the french brands sinking into near obscurity here.
 
Realistically if we were to align with the standards of one market it would have been Japan but who will be our main supplier in the future? The French export position in Australia is worse than it seems because many of the Renaults are sourced in Korea. Asian production may be the future of French brands in this region.
 
Australia is not a small market - about two thirds of the UK or French markets and about the size of the Russian market. The French chase smaller markets than that, and politically unstable ones too. But it is a competitive market and importers have to be up to the game.
 
i already wondered why we should not go LHD
It'd cost too much to re-engineer the road infrastructure.

There's a lot of signs, freeway on-ramps, road markings and the like that would need to be revised, and in a big country (unlike, say, Sweden in the mid-1960s), it'd cost a fortune. So, we'll trundle along with RHD. Not the news Peugeot, Citroen and GM fans want to hear, but what's likely to be the case.

Far simpler to adopt more widely recognised standards, even if this does mean having to put up with the fusebox in the glovebox due to PSA's lazy RHD conversion efforts. Now that Australia's got no native car industry to protect, there's no reason (EDIT - NOT) to adopt either UK or Japanese design rules...
 
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July Sales

Citroën C3 - 8
Citroën C3 Aircross - 0
Citroën C4 Cactus - 0
Citroën C5 Aircross - 4
Citroën Total - 12

Peugeot 2008 - 31
Peugeot 3008 - 79
Peugeot 5008 - 22
Peugeot 308 - 4
Peugeot 508 - 4
Peugeot Boxer - 3
Peugeot Expert - 30
Peugeot Partner - 14
Peugeot Total - 187

Renault Captur - 76
Renault Clio - 0
Renault Kadjar - 0
Renault Kangoo - 42
Renault Koleos - 118
Renault Master - 109
Renault Master Bus - 4
Renault Megane - 12
Renault Trafic - 203
Renault Zoe - 0
Renault Total - 564

Odd that in March, April, May and June no 308s were sold (runout complete) but in July, four 308s are sold.
 
Odd that in March, April, May and June no 308s were sold (runout complete) but in July, four 308s are sold.

They must have found a few more 308s in the back of the yard!!

The Peugeot total is down on the previous two months but the 3008 is continuing to sell in reasonable quantities.

We helped the Citroen cause in July by purchasing a new C5 Aircross. This replaced my wife's 5-year old C4 Grand Picasso. Continental was able to get the colour we wanted and we had the car within two weeks. As usual, awesome service from Bill, Greg, Mandy & Spiro.

IMG_6610 (1).jpg
 
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July Sales

Citroën C3 - 8
Citroën C3 Aircross - 0
Citroën C4 Cactus - 0
Citroën C5 Aircross - 4
Citroën Total - 12

Peugeot 2008 - 31
Peugeot 3008 - 79
Peugeot 5008 - 22
Peugeot 308 - 4
Peugeot 508 - 4
Peugeot Boxer - 3
Peugeot Expert - 30
Peugeot Partner - 14
Peugeot Total - 187

Renault Captur - 76
Renault Clio - 0
Renault Kadjar - 0
Renault Kangoo - 42
Renault Koleos - 118
Renault Master - 109
Renault Master Bus - 4
Renault Megane - 12
Renault Trafic - 203
Renault Zoe - 0
Renault Total - 564

Odd that in March, April, May and June no 308s were sold (runout complete) but in July, four 308s are sold.
With these sort of numbers you would have to wonder why any of the french brands bother. They would all be loss making propositions
 
You just have to look at the UK citroen website to see what we are missing out on. They can buy a C5 Aircross Hybrid or an all electric C4!
I'm waiting to see when the new replacement C5 sedan is released in the UK in ICE, Hybrid and Electric.

Checkout citroen.co.uk

Cheers, Ken
 
Diesel Pete.
How does the aircross compare with a c5 x7 for ride ?

I am quite impressed with the ride, tasie. We're just running around the suburbs at the moment because of lockdown but it is very smooth on the road, considerably quieter than the diesel, absorbs bumps well but still handles well on corners.

It's been about 9 months since I traded in my C5 X7 Tourer for a 508 Sportswagon, so it's been a while since I've enjoyed the carpet ride, and the Pug has much firmer suspension, but I think Citroen have done a really good job with the suspension. When it was first released, I wondered if the progressive hydraulic cushions was a bit of a gimmick, but not at all.

Overall, the C5 Aircross is classic Citroen - a very comfortable drive.
 
You just have to look at the UK citroen website to see what we are missing out on. They can buy a C5 Aircross Hybrid or an all electric C4!
I'm waiting to see when the new replacement C5 sedan is released in the UK in ICE, Hybrid and Electric.

Checkout citroen.co.uk

Cheers, Ken

There won't be an all-electric C5X as the EMP2 platform doesn't support it. It will require the next generation 2024

But a C5 Aircross even with the more modern 1.6L engine and 8-speed auto tranny would be worthwhile, if only for the fact that it comes with a more comprehensive suite of driver assistance (including adaptive cruise control with stop/go functionality)...
 
There won't be an all-electric C5X as the EMP2 platform doesn't support it. It will require the next generation 2024

But a C5 Aircross even with the more modern 1.6L engine and 8-speed auto tranny would be worthwhile, if only for the fact that it comes with a more comprehensive suite of driver assistance (including adaptive cruise control with stop/go functionality)...
The new 308 has been recently announced as being developed for BEV status on a modified EMP2 platform in 2023. Presumably the C5 (and many other Stellantis brand cars) will end up on this platform.

Allegedly it will be referred to as e-VMP and may replace the existing BEV platform, the CMP, which is used for the e208 and e2008.
 
So farewell C3 Aircross, we hardly knew ye...


5 Citroens sold in the month, of which 2 were C3s and 3 C5 Aircrosses...

198 Peugeots sold...

Citroen C3 – 2
Citroen C3 Aircross – 0
Citroen C4 Cactus – 0
Citroen C5 Aircross – 3
Citroen Total – 5

Peugeot 2008 – 61
Peugeot 3008 – 85
Peugeot 308 – 0
Peugeot 5008 – 5
Peugeot 508 – 1
Peugeot Boxer – 2
Peugeot Expert – 24
Peugeot Partner – 20
Peugeot Total – 198

Renault Arkana – 52
Renault Captur – 54
Renault Clio – 0
Renault Kadjar – 0
Renault Kangoo – 46
Renault Koleos – 107
Renault Master – 125
Renault Master Bus – 4
Renault Megane – 12
Renault Trafic – 118
Renault Zoe – 0
Renault Total – 518
 
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So farewell C3 Aircross, we hardly knew ye...


5 Citroens sold in the month, of which 2 were C3s and 3 C5 Aircrosses...

198 Peugeots sold...

Citroen C3 – 2
Citroen C3 Aircross – 0
Citroen C4 Cactus – 0
Citroen C5 Aircross – 3
Citroen Total – 5

Peugeot 2008 – 61
Peugeot 3008 – 85
Peugeot 308 – 0
Peugeot 5008 – 5
Peugeot 508 – 1
Peugeot Boxer – 2
Peugeot Expert – 24
Peugeot Partner – 20
Peugeot Total – 198

Renault Arkana – 52
Renault Captur – 54
Renault Clio – 0
Renault Kadjar – 0
Renault Kangoo – 46
Renault Koleos – 107
Renault Master – 125
Renault Master Bus – 4
Renault Megane – 12
Renault Trafic – 118
Renault Zoe – 0
Renault Total – 518
There's at least 1 driving around in SEQ...it will become an orphan 😪
 
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