Citroen has left Australia at exactly the wrong time | Opinion

Last week Citroen declared it would cease selling new vehicles in Australia, ending a century-long effort to win us over. But it appears the French carmaker has surrendered to Australia at exactly the wrong time.

Many commentators will probably say that Citroen’s withdrawal was a long time coming due to low sales numbers and even the official statement from the company’s General Manager David Owen hints at this as well.  

“Whilst we acknowledge and celebrate Citroen’s rich history in the Australian market, we must look to the future and consider the rapidly evolving, dynamic, and competitive nature of the industry and local market, alongside changing consumer demands,” Owen’s statement reads.

“The decision for Citroen Australia to cease new vehicle sales was not made lightly; it was made after careful consideration of the current and future product available for our country, in the context of the local market and the preferences and requirements of Australian new vehicle buyers.”

It’s true, the sales weren’t great. In 2023 Citroen sold a total of only 228 cars in Australia. It’s not like it was just an off year though - in 2022 the brand sold 296 vehicles. The numbers had been healthier before COVID-19 hit with Citroen selling 965 in 2016, but then the fall hit harder with 735 sold in 2017, before sliding to 494 in 2018 and 400 in 2019.

In 2019 I asked Citroen’s senior executives if the declining sales would force the brand to leave Australia.

“Do people have to worry that we’re going anywhere? No – we’re building La Maison,” the Communications boss for Citroen Australia at that time Tyson Bowen said.

La Maison (or one’s home) refers to the local rebranding of dealerships with Citroen and Peugeot separated into two distinct areas within the one facility.

Citroen had just reduced its Australia line-up and was launching its new C5 Aircross SUV and the then, General Manager of Marketing (now Managing Director) Kate Gillis, reassured us again that Citroen was staying in Australia.

“We wouldn’t be here if that was the case,” she said.

“We need to be realistic about where we are and start to grow from there. It’s fraught with danger if we start to go too broad, too quickly, which would end up with a brand that’s not sustainable for the future,” she said.

"We need to start building that ground swell of customer interest that we currently don’t have but we have a whole heap of great familiarity with the brand, so we need to start to bring that back to life.”

Five years on and Citroen has announced it’s leaving Australia.

The thing is, Gillis was absolutely right about there being lots of familiarity and the need for ground swell. 

There’s another very famous brand that didn’t have much ground swell too, and it was resuscitated back to life by a Chinese company - we’re talking about MG.

MG is an iconic British brand, but it had struggled to find a foothold in Australia under its SAIC ownership until about 2016 with its MG3 small hatch, which was good looking and cheap.

The ground swell continued with SUVs such as the HS and ZS, which are also attractive and affordable. When Australia suddenly became extremely curious about electric cars MG was able to offer EVs such as the MG4 — and yes they are good looking and cost a lot less than other electric cars. 

MG was able to give a lot of people what they wanted. Something Citroen couldn’t do. Citroens were too expensive and weren’t good looking - well not in a mainstream sense.

But now, just at the moment Citroen has decided to pack up and leave, might have been the best chance the brand had to make it here. That’s because Australians are demonstrating a new willingness to take a chance on brands they’d never bought before as long as it was a less expensive way into an electric car than the ways offered by Tesla or BMW.

Citroen has had electric cars before - a few years ago the brand launched the Ami city car, which was super cute, but ridiculously small. But no, it would have been Citroen eC3 electric small SUV that could have been the car to start the new ground swell. The eC3 arrived in the United Kingdom late last year and sells for about A$42,600. At that price it would have been among the most affordable electric cars in Australia.

Yup it seems like Citroen decided to leave at exactly the wrong time. Quirky styling is now fashionable and mainstream - just look at the Kia EV9 or new Hyundai Santa Fe.

Citroen is the king of quirkiness and has been forever - from the weird and beautiful Citroen DS of the 1950s to the 2CV and recently the Cactus SUV with its ‘airbumps’ designed to deflect runaway shopping trolleys. Imagine a retro 21st century DS or 2CV with an electric drivetrain?

But then it could still all happen - it’s only Australia Citroen is leaving and that’s probably how the brand sees it, too.

Yes it’s a missed opportunity to get into Aussie driveways, but it’s not the end of the world for Citroen by any means — the brand could also make its return. Citroen's sibling brand Peugeot is staying in Australia — I've asked them and they've said they're definitely not leaving. Hmmm.