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FRANKFURT AUTO SHOW

Bijoy Kumar Y / Mumbai September 14, 2005



Citroen, part of the PSA group (which includes Peugeot) and the second largest French car manufacturer is all set to enter India.

Citroen officials confirmed that the dealer hunt is on saying, ‘ We have already talked to a few dealers and we are very happy with the outcome, but we have not decided a particular date or model.’ Citroen will make an entry via the completely built unit (CBU) route.

The manufacturer has a fine array of cars and the C6 (comparable to the Mercedes-Benz E-Class) will be a likely candidate. GMs world car Indian developments were unveiled from the Western rim of the Atlantic Ocean as well.

The Chevrolet Aveo, now wearing the much-abused world car tag line, is to be produced in 120 countries, with India on that list. The car looks set to replace the GM (Opel) Corsa early next year in India.

Talking to Business Standard, Chevrolet Europe chief, Hardy Spranger said that car holds tremendous potential not only in growing markets like India and China, but also in eastern Europe and developed markets like South Korea.


http://www.business-standard.com/com...&autono=200025

Well I dont know why these companies go for the top end segment and the CBU route...which basically has no volumes...and whoever associated Citron with luxury/big cars..

Get the C3, C4 and the Xsara !

Man i dont think they are going to be popular atleast in India where buyers are very image consicous! The superb is better bet then the E class still E sells more! SO is it with the Citroen! People prefer Mercs and BMWs to other companys! Plus this car will be real expensive.

Agree with Abhay and Busa. If Citroen want to fail in India then they should launch their high end luxury model. If they want to be succesful then they should launch their smaller models.

they should go against the getz and swift and fusion.

taking against the likes of e segmenters will be sheer stupidity.

Sure is stupidity if that is their gameplan. We had the XM in the UK years ago, it was a very well equipped car aimed at execs. It won many awards. But boy did it flop. It was not a commercial success. Compare this with the Saxo, for many months it was the best selling car in the UK. Citroen have always bombed when in comes to exec cars despite the awards they get. Awards rarely translate to commerical success.

How many of you remember Escorts' ridiculous attempt to bring in the 2CV and compete with Maruti????

Isn't that what was said about Skoda launching the Octavia? And now look at how the car turned around the fortunes of Skoda in India. Same could happen with Citroen which is still an unknown brand in India just as Skoda was.

Skoda clicked in INdia with their otavia thanks to the primitive market at that time and the backing by wolkswagon and its excellent features.

and do u also remember how the superb bombed.

the units sold until now can be counted on your fingers.

the best way to start is to launch a hatchback or a sedan in c/c+ segment in India.

I wonder How Nissan axually got through.

Turned around? I dont think they had any fortune here before the Octavia, good or bad. Even today, their fortune doesnt go beyond that one model which is a shame.

yeah superb bombed and they haev still not brought the fabia

There is a big difference between VW and Citroen. Citroen cannot sell its large exec cars in its home market so I doubt they are going to be succesful in India.

I would put money on the C6 being a failure in most of Europe and India. Citroens big cars are just known for super depreciation (relative to Mercs etc)

Sorry, "turned around the fortunes" was a bad choice of words. What i meant was that it established a sold foundation for Skoda in terms of Brand image. Why the Superb refuses to sell is another matter and has already been discussed several times here.

Bigman, you are right that Citroen can't sell its large exec cars in Europe but neither can Skoda sell many Octavias and Superbs in Europe. But like we've seen Skoda has done well for themselves considering how ignorant the indian market was about Skoda. So, based on that i wouldn't totally rule out Citroen making a significant impact on the Indian market in D segment or higher. And of late, the Citroen cars have been rolling out with all kinds of options and gizmoz...especially the C5/C6.

Deeps you have the option of

a skoda octavia RS 150bhp and
a citroen c5 148 bhp

which would you buy.

you will answer your own doubts here.

Not so stupid - it would have been good for rural india using Escorts network. What was more ridiculous was Standard getting permission to make the awful Standard 2000 (engine being the culprit) at the same time!