Peugeot Citroen dealer overhaul

A fundamental restructure of the Peugeot Citroen dealer network is central to new distributor Inchcape’s plans to revive the French brands in Australia.

Best known as the distributor of Subaru vehicles here, Inchcape took local control of the French brands from Sime Darby on June 1.

The Peugeot-Citroen network will be cut from its current size and all dealers will be encouraged to sell both brands. Inchcape hopes to have the latter process completed by the end of 2018.

As it does with Subaru, Inchcape will also own its own Peugeot Citroen dealerships.

The network will be serviced by a slimmed-down organisation, Peugeot Citroen Australia or PCA, compared to the old Sime Darby operation, with staff handling both brands rather than one or the other.

There are currently 38 Peugeot dealers and 27 Citroen dealers in Australia. Eighteen dealers currently handle both brands.

Sales across both brands, including Citroen’s DS luxury sub-brand, are down nearly 50 per cent year-on-year.

“Someone once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again and expecting a different result, hence there is a need for change,” said Inchcape CEO Nick Senior in explaining the dealer and distributor restructure.

“We are going to be operating the two brands as one company. The team will have dual responsibility, particularly those in the field.

“That transformation is happening immediately.”

Senior admitted the current network was not profitable and that a review was underway to establish how to achieve that.

“There are too many dealers with too small a throughput so over the next few months we are going to create a review of the network and the network structure.

“We want our metro dealers to get to 75 vehicles per month and our provincial dealers to 30 per month in the longer term.

“That network plan will reflect that ambition.”

Senior said Inchcape would be retailing Peugeot Citroen models “sooner rather than later”, but offered no further details.

He also outlined a strong marketing campaign for the Peugeot brand based around the new 3008, which launches this month. It will be on television from Sunday night through to the end of the year, as well as feature in digital and outdoor advertising.

“We need to lift awareness to drive a stronger consideration set and I will back the PCA team to achieve that,” Senior said.