Citroën SA plans to launch the three-door C2 mini car, priced “below R120 000”, next month and with it, the company hopes to increase its overall sales to between 3 500 and 4 000 this year.
Citroën SA plans to launch the three-door C2 mini car, priced “well below R120 000”, next month and with it, the company hopes to increase its overall sales to between 3 500 and 4 000 this year.
According to Citroën SA chief executive Derek Bromfield, the French marque’s local importer and distributor saw its sales increase by 50 per cent last year to almost 3 000 units.
It was hoped, Bromfield said, that C2 would give the company inroads into a new segment. Unveiled at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the C2 enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome by both the public and the international press. Some automotive scribes have said the little car “combines fresh styling levels of safety and comfort equipment worthy of a car much further up the market”.
Recently, the C2 won one of Europe’s most prestigious motoring awards, the “Goldenes Lenkrad” (Golden Steering Wheel), in the small car category. Three-door models, like the C2, account for more than 56 per cent of compact vehicle sales in Europe.
“The model would be priced below the R120 000 bracket,” Bromfield said. “People are very conscious of pricing and we’re anticipating doing 100 Citröen C2 sales a month.”
Meanwhile, Citroën’s dealer network, which comprises 20 dealers, will increase to 25 by the middle of this year with the opening of dealerships in Centurion, Alberton, Namibia, Seapoint in Cape Town and Witbank.
Bromfield said the target was to increase the network to 30 dealerships by the end of this year, although it had not yet signed any agreements in this regard.
“The investment required for each dealership is about R15 million, which limits the number of independents. But we want to control the majority of the dealer network to enable us to control the standards in the network,” he added.
The value of the company’s automotive component exports to the Citröen in France totalled R1,5 million last year. Citroën SA was also investigating the possibility of exporting alloy wheels and wiring harnesses in addition to the current batch of catalytic converters.
Citröen SA will launch the Citröen C6, spiritual successor of the DS, into the market towards the end of this year.