[Speedshift]

Citroen is being a bit too optimistic in their pricing for the C5.

The Compass S, which has better brand pull, recognition, relatively better service network and AWD, is still about 2 lacs cheaper.

[clementj]

A difficult year ahead it is for Citroen. On paper their strategy appears to ride the SUV craze with the C5 'SUV' but this product finds itself nowhere. Even the Tucson with the backing of the hyundai sales/service network barely sells 150 units a month. I bought the compass because of the allure of the Jeep brand despite the history of FCA in India.

Citroen as a brand barely means anything to an Indian buyer. To a buyer like me Citroen is a brand that builds run of the mill cars elsewhere in the world. A 30L+ 5 seater product in India with comfortable ride as the only differentiator is a very risky buy and a depreciation nightmare and I'd rather accept a slightly harsher ride instead.

That said even if Citroen had priced the C5 5L cheaper, it would not have have had any takers. Their best bet would be to try and do a Nissan with a sub 4 meter magnite.

[Venkatesh]

Citroen India says it has already received over 1,000 bookings, 20% of them through online.

Roland Bouchara, Senior VP, sales and marketing, Citroen India says, That would make Citroen hopeful of a good conversion rate of bookings to actual sales.

Source

[abhijet.sen]

Why will anyone buy this over our big bad ass country’s favourite Toyota Fortuner at this price point? This car will start selling with 5-8 Lakhs discount in 6-12 months. They have not learnt anything from MG or Kia. Only good design does not sell, you need a good price too. They have fooled themselves by bringing in CKD version instead of local manufacturing. They are probably following VW/Skoda in India, which is why they will at best end up in similar situation or at worst pack up the shop in 3-5 years seeing not enough uptick. Imagine sale of this car if it was launched at Rs 20 Lakhs. It is definitely not in a category higher than Tucson but still compared to it prized much higher.

[kiku007]

Citroen holds the dubious distinction of selling less cars than Ferrari in Australia in 2020. Up until Sep-20 Ferrari and Citroen sold 158 and 139 cars respectively.

I wonder if Citroen is on the way to hold this reputation in India as well. Why bother at all?

The French quirkiness and novelty won't be enough.

[Karvel]

Looks to be DOA. Maybe we can see 4-6 lacs discounts in no time. And if this is the approach in a segment which is the hot one now, then not sure what the company is actually planning. Also seems that they are pushing for leasing options, based on the information shared, but the salaried group which contributes a large chunk in this will not get tax benefits on direct leasing.

Anyway, with this pricing and expected resultant volumes, raises a question on long term view of the company about Indian Market.

[speed_edge]

Very optimistic pricing. Citroen got it all wrong.

Originally Posted by Shanksta

They have a good sense of humour though calling it “Special Introductory Price”.

Thats correct, it'll be available with discount on "Special Introductory Price” post initial euphoria

[CoffeeBeans]

Citreon is seen as a budget brand in Europe and is known to produce cheap to own cars. Don't know why they though they can set themselves up as premium brand in India with same product. Infact they had a premium sub-division DS which was spun off similar to Lexus-Toyota, Honda-Acura etc. just to have a clear distinction between the segments.
Some companies really get the Indian market absolutely wrong. Now watch the car suffer same or even worse fate than Renault Captur which was also overpriced.

[starrys987]

Yikes! That's a nasty blow from Citroen. Somewhere in this thread I mentioned it should be priced around 25L ex-showroom for base variant. So, it is overpriced by 5L.

Good luck to them!!

IIM grads get another easy case study.

[Goandiaries]

Are there only three feature differences between the feel and the shine variants? Or am I missing something completely? There's an extra 2 lakh ex-showroom price for an opening panoramic sunroof, electric opening/closing tailgate and LED vision projector headlamps.

[LPJ777]

The pricing is absolutely DOA. I rather get a Jeep Compass or a VW Taigun for this kind of money. Citroen has lost the plot. This should have probably gone aggressive on the pricing probably at 24.99L ex showroom as an introductory offer and gradually ramped up from there. This could have at least gotten more people to come by the showroom. At 30 lakhs ex.showroom, I don't think people will even consider shortlisting it especially in a country where Citroen is perceived as newbie. It takes a lot to do build a brand in India. Citroen IMHO should have taken a leaf out of MG or Kia's playbook.

If they couldn't afford to price it lower than 30 lakhs, they should have considered a barebones variant at a lower price point. I see Citroen being a low-volume player and this is going to hit their long term prospects in the country and also those who buy into the brand are going to suffer severe depreciation hits in the coming years.

Lastly, if they were looking at volumes and establishing a favourable presence in the country then they should have introduced the brand by offering other products such as the C1, C3 etc. at lower price points and then eventually introduced the C5. Introducing the C5 may make a good case for a brand building exercise but I highly doubt if this is going to work for them in India with this kind of pricing.

[SideView]

Everyone directly wants premium image and profits from day 1.

C’mon Citroen work for it before pricing stuff ridiculously.

[matchvan]

Citroen's pricing sure does leave a Sour taste.
Their bosses must have thought "any way our stint is going to be short lived, so let's squeeze all we can"
Now 1 down, two to go.
Let's see how Volkswagen and Skoda price their upcoming models.

[07CR]

I was awaiting this with bated breath. But the fools at Citroen India have priced this atleast 10L more than my expectations.

Frequently heard them saying Bonjour to Indians in their presentation. Time for them to hear "Bhag yaha se" (Get out from here) by the Indians soon!

[Venkatesh]

Citroen C5 Aircross price check comparison against Hyundai Tucson and Jeep Compass



Source : Autocar India