French carmaking conglomerate Groupe PSA on Wednesday announced that they will launch their Citroën brand in India with their first product, the C5 Aircross to be launched around the end of 2020. The French company has established a joint-venture with the CK Birla Group which will help them manufacture vehicles at Thiruvallur and power plants in Hosur in Tamil Nadu from 2021 onwards. The vehicles will be ‘inspired’ by India according to the carmaker and expansion into India is a critical part of the carmakers ‘Push to Pass’ strategy as they try to diversify from Western Europe.
Carlos Tavares, Chairman, Groupe PSA said that the core of the company’s philosophy was ‘Inspired by You’ and that India with its high growth potential was a key market for the group as it expanded outside Europe. He added that the ‘Push to Pass’ strategy had made Groupe PSA one of the most profitable large automobile companies in the world, but having learnt from prior experiences their plans in India will be steady starting with the new C5 Aircross which will be launched around the end of 2020.
Linda Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, Citroën brand explained the logic behind launching the large C5 instead of one of Groupe PSA’s myriad small car platforms, “this is the latest product launched by Citroën and was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show recently. We want to launch our flagship model first because it highlights our design and innovations.” Starting from the second-half of 2021, Citroën will launch vehicles ‘inspired’ by India which will be heavily localised from Day 1, and Tavares said that these vehicles could also be exported from here. The C5 Aircross will compete against the likes of the Jeep Compass but Jackson made it clear that Citroën did not see themselves as a luxury brand and was aiming for the ‘heart’ of the market, and their prices would reflect that but that did not mean that the C5 Aircross would lack for advanced features such as the company’s suspension technologies.
The company is starting a nationwide roadshow to attract dealer partners from July onwards and believes that their late entry into the market will allow them to study the successes and failures of others. As for new drivetrain technologies, Tavares highlighted that all new Citroën vehicles have been designed with multi-energy options in mind but when it came to India they would have to find the appropriate moment to launch such a platform since pricing is an issue.
Groupe PSA also owns the Peugeot and Opel brands, having acquired the latter from General Motors in 2018. Both those brands have had prior experiences in India but saw sales stall and withdrew from the market. However, Tavares is confident that this time will be different and a step-by-step approach will see them succeed.
