Product development for Citroen and Peugeot is now centralized within PSA. What effect will this have on Citroen?
Actually it is a plus. You now have all the groups you need to develop a project, from the product people and design all the way through to the project leader. As brand manager, I am very close to the action. Within this new division there are at least two groups dedicated to Citroen.
One is the Citroen product team, which is physically sitting in the offices with us. The other is the Citroen styling team under Jean-Pierre Ploue. These teams are focused on our brand and we are very close to them. They are integrated in our processes and ways, and yet they belong to a larger division where all aspects of product development are concentrated.
When will the first products developed entirely under this regime arrive?
In two to three years. But you will not see any difference in these products. We do expect faster development processes, lower development costs and the ability to further differentiate the brand. But the customer will not see the shorter development time. The customer will see that the cars are more and more Citroen.
In what way do you think Citroen cars should be more different?
In many ways. Citroen cars are fairly well-identified. A Citroen has style, is fairly innovative, has some design class, is comfortable and friendly. Those are the words that come to mind when you see a Citroen. That is fine with me.
But these elements will become recognizable in all aspects of Citroen, from advertising, communication and marketing, to the points of sale, the salespeople and also the car itself. In the interior there is still room to make things more specific with the Citroen signature, like perceived quality and choice of materials.
What is the difference between Citroen and Peugeot?
We don’t position ourselves against Peugeot. Citroen is a generalist brand that needs to offer a full range. That works well. We need to build cars that are attractive and yet affordable and have typical Citroen elements such as fun, design and innovation. At the same time we are embarking on a program to be more premium in a sense, with models that are distinctly Citroen but also more upscale. It is an important project that will manifest itself in the streets within two to three years. A C5 convertible could be one such model, but there are more projects. That should boost the value of the brand.
Can you maintain Citroen’s reputation for technical innovation within PSA?
On the one hand, we are the ones who developed stop-start. On the other, we have the group, which decided to spread this technology throughout the product offering. But being part of the group also means we can draw from a portfolio of innovations. So it is up to us to use combinations and packages to make our cars distinguishable as Citroen.
What technology would be specific to Citroen?
Innovation is not only about technologies, it is also about concepts. Take a C4 Picasso. It is very innovative, yet if you look at its technologies you find many pieces that you find elsewhere, including the automated-manual transmission. This combination makes the difference.
How will Citroen and Peugeot achieve more synergies in national sales?
We still have individual distributors for our brands, but we are now looking at all ways to cut costs. That can be done by sharing back office activities, buildings, accounting and purchasing. Market outlets, brand identity and sales-force management should remain different.
The process is coming along. It will be finalized within three years.
Are there any markets you would like to be present?
Well, the US is not an issue, though you should never say never. But one of the markets where we are not present and would like to be is India. And this is the one we shall be analyzing in the future. We are also still fairly small in Russia and are working hard to fix that. We intend to build a plant there and improve sales. We’ll probably go to Mexico. But Canada is ruled out, because that is too much linked with the US.
How do you ideally see the Citroen brand experience?
I think the Citroen brand identity is technically innovative and sometimes bold, which attaches importance to style and yet is friendly and joyful and reaches out to people.
That is also how our prestigious cars of the past have been perceived.
Do you the need specific products for India, maybe sourced from China?
I don’t know at this point. It is an open question. We could go there with an existing model but the question is whether you need to create a special offering based on an existing model, in line with the lower local purchasing power.
Are you working on a value model for India?
We do not have a project for India. In China I believe that our existing Citroen Fukang is a value model. It is selling fairly well, although less so than in the past. So we are going to develop modern cars on this basis. Beyond that, we have a project to develop a car for the entry-level segments, at a very competitive cost, in the emerging countries China and South America. That would be based on existing technologies.
What is your growth ambition for Citroen?
We have ambitious targets for the PSA group. So I set even higher targets for Citroen internally to make sure that we meet our goals. The growth potential for Citroen is very significant. We have embarked on a major cost cutting drive, which makes our products more competitive. We have a lot of potential, in China and South America, but also in Europe, where there are still a few markets where our share is not up to par. But we are not going to flog our products with discounts, like in the past.
Are you having problems with copyright infringements in China?
We were confronted with that in China three or four years ago. I think there are two things. First, there are laws and these should be respected. Companies who copy should be challenged and punished, otherwise you cannot do business. But on the other hand, when it comes to design, we have an advantage as people like to see the original. There we can stay ahead of the pack by offering the latest designs.
