Despite a Rs. 1.5 lakh discount on the recently introduced Citroen C3 Aircoss, sales are not picking-up.
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Despite a Rs. 1.5 lakh discount on the recently introduced Citroen C3 Aircoss, sales are not picking-up. Citroen’s product strategy of a well-sorted mechanical package, a visually appealing design, a lack of features and a missing automatic transmission option as a budget offering is not working in India.
Among all the new entrants, Citroen is perhaps in the worst condition, alongside its cousin Jeep from the Stellantis group.
Citroen’s pace to deliver the electrified version of the C3 in just eight months after the ICE version is commendable. However, after exhausting opportunities in two of India’s fastest-growing SUV segments, what now for Citroen in India?
Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:
The French just don’t get India.
- Have they not learned from the failure of cheap, cost-cut cars that the aspirations of the Indian car buyer have changed? We don’t like barebones & cheap anymore, we like value-for-money & perceived premium’ness instead.
- Have they not learned anything from the success of players like Kia India who offer either very competitive (Sonet, Seltos, Carens etc.) or truly world-class products (Carnival, EV6)?
- They really got a knife to a gunfight. Which is sad because the C3 is a terrifically engineered car – great turbo-petrol motor, suspension tuning etc.
- What kind of R&D & market research do these guys do? A tiny entrepreneur like me saw the C3’s price + positioning, and I knew it will bomb. Ditto with the C5 Aircross (another car I loved driving), C3 Aircross & eC3. 4 products, all horribly positioned. The CEO of Citroen India should be fired.
All dimwit decisions taken by the company. As an example, why was there no network sharing with Jeep dealers (same parent group)? Jeep dealers are also struggling with low Compass / Meridian volumes. Why develop a new network from scratch?
Here’s what BHPian ron178 had to say on the matter:
The C3 looks and drives better than a Celerio, but use the same formula in a 12-lakh-rupee SUV and the Aircross lags behind rivals in almost every respect.
India is no longer the cheap-sells safety-doesn’t-matter market that Stellantis are trying to fit into their unrealistic, neat little model of how consumers think. Buyers are getting quite mature, and people venturing out of Maruti/Hyundai showrooms for the first time need a substantial reason to do so. They will not settle for a product that has so many obvious shortcomings.
I think the Aircross could have had some potential, had it been priced significantly lower – to the point where the absolute price overshadowed the usual quest to hit the value-price sweet spot (eg. early Nissan Magnite). But that’s almost impossible today with a constantly evolving regulatory environment, not to mention evolving customer preferences especially in the areas of tech and safety.
Most customers already spending 12 lakh rupees will gladly spend a little more on something that either appeals strongly to the head, presents immense value, or makes them feel special, and the C3 Aircross, in my opinion, does none.
Here’s what BHPian motorworks had to say on the matter:
Forget Flap door handles! The common customer does not pay attention to this at all! Like some one said, there is along queue for the Thar, and that has flap handles!
I think one of the biggest issue is that Citroen is trying to do a “Renault” here. They had probably seen how Renault got a quick “foot-in-the-door” with the Kwid, Triber and now the Kiger. So Citroen has sort of followed this template with the C3 twins.
But Renault established themselves with the Duster first, which was also cheap in many ways, flap handles, basic interiors and all that. But India didnt mind it in 2014-15 and it was a roaring success then ( the duster also sort of was a first mover in that 10-15 lakh cross over segment). However post the duster, Renault focused too much on “value” offerings and today their sales are dwindling as well. They now need the Duster back to get them some momentum.
Lastly, another huge issue with Citroen is the lack of an automatic. Citroen is first making inroads in the urban market, and indian cities are choking with Traffic! Without the automatic, Citroen is ruling itself out of contention for many of the urban and informed buyers ( who may already know about the brand Citroen). If they address this first, some sales momentum should happen. Adding features like automatic climate control and a small sunroof can all happen in the due course. Mahindra XUV700 has a variant—AX5, which has no automatic climate control, but has a sunroof. And this variant costs well above 25 lakhs and yet has a waiting period, says a lot about what customers want today.
Here’ what BHPian saikishor had to say on the matter:
Citroen will eventually exit like Datsun if they do not correct things. A tiny amount of effort in adding features and repositioning things would do the trick for them but I just dont understand what is stopping them from doing so. If the Americans were shrewd, these guys are on another level I must say. Atleast those guys tried, what are these chaps doing? Manual AC on a car that competes with the air purifier bundled Creta? I do not see this ageing well.
Here’s what BHPian Satkaj had to say on the matter:
I was in market for buying C5 against all odds.
I called up Mumbai Showroom, they said there are no cars in stock. You can try with some other city showroom without taking any interest or asking any details .
I called Ahmedabad dealer. The sales guy was good and he managed to find that factory had 2 cars available. Started negotiations with Ahmedabad dealer and was offered a discount which I felt was quite less for a car which is absolutely not in demand. I again called Mumbai dealer giving all the details and brief of my discussion with Ahmedabad desler. The response I got was that”Sir , Ahmedabad dealer has offered you better deal. Its better you buy from them. There was no urgency of selling a car, making some package which will at least encourage me to visit the showroom. Every call was made by me and none by them.This is the state of their sales team.
I as of now have given up the idea of buying C5 , which I was 100% considering only because there was no enthusiasm shown by dealer to sell offering decent discounts which were expected in the line of other cars.
Difficult to understand their strategy for India and their pricing policies which will allow genuine buyers to visit showroom at least. Without the same , it’s difficult for Citroen to do volumes.
Here’s what BHPian the.dogfather had to say on the matter:
Citroen has misread the Indian market. My brother owns a Citroen C3 Aircross in London and was shocked to see the lack of features in the eC3 owned by my friend.
He had compared the Ford Ecosport and the C3 Aircross while purchasing the car in UK and the Citroen felt peppier, had amazing ride quality and flexi seats (can slide the rear seats to increase boot space). The Ecosport was a close contender. At a time when Ecosport has left the market, and the segment doing so well, getting the C3 Aircross which is sold in UK would have been great.
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