After a year marked by decline in France, where the brand lost its third place, Citroën's objective for 2024 was to raise the bar and regain market share. The opportunity to see if the first half of the year allowed Citroën to achieve its objective on the French market, the most important for it as it represents almost one in three sales in Europe.
At the end of June, the French automobile market showed a modest increase of 2.8% to reach 914,980 units sold, a modest performance compared to 2023 and still down sharply compared to 2019 with a French market lower by 21.56% compared to 2023. its level 5 years ago.
In this market, Citroën's sales fell by 1.6% to 65,525 units for a market share of 7.2%, which still places the brand in 4th place in terms of sales. After a very good first quarter in which sales rose by more than 4%, the brand suffered more in the second quarter and sales for the first half of the year were slightly down.
The reason for this decline is clear: it is the renewal of the C3. In fact, the fourth generation of the versatile herringbone sedan arrived late to the market, with the commercial launch only taking place in June and the first deliveries only taking place in September. As with any generational change, there is a moment of hesitation in sales, especially when it comes to a car with such high volumes. In any case, the brand was able to count on the good performance of the previous generation C3, helped by exceptional offers throughout the semester, which allowed the small Citroën to increase its sales by 3.69% in these first six months of the year, to over 30,000 units, putting it in fourth place overall, which is remarkable for a model at the end of its career.
Citroën was also able to count on the C3 Aircross which, although also at the end of its career, saw its sales increase by 5.75% in the first half of the year with 11,769 units sold and 19th place in the overall ranking. If Citroën is playing in the same league as its French rivals with the C3, the brand suffers greatly with the C3 Aircross, which clearly cannot compare with the sales figures of the Renault Captur or the Peugeot 2008, both of which have at least twice as many sales as it.
As for the C4, the brand's compact saloon seems to have two different semesters depending on the engine chosen. Thus, in thermal, the C4 saw its sales fall by 16.84% to 6,684 units, while in the 100% electric version, the herringbone compact sedan reached 4,338 units, doing significantly better than for the whole of 2023. The brand was able to take advantage of the French government's social leasing scheme, which allowed the C4 to fill up with orders and quickly translate into registrations. In total, sales of the C4 reached 11,022 units, ultimately better than in 2023, thanks to the electric version, which really took off in this first half of the year and reached 40% of total C4 sales.
Reasons for hope
A first half in decline for Citroën on the French market, but the brand still has good news to report, particularly in terms of orders, which will inevitably have a positive impact on the second half of the year.
The new C3 has met with an immediate response from the public and the small herringbone sedan has been able to take advantage of social leasing to secure as many orders as possible, in addition to the numerous pre-orders received since 18 October. Deliveries of the new C3 will begin in September, which should have a significant impact on the brand's sales from the start of the school year. Citroën should therefore have plenty of sales of the electric C3, which seems to be performing better than the brand's expectations with a high sales threshold, which is also the case for the finishes.
In addition, Citroën will be able to count on the new C3 Aircross, which will arrive in dealerships for the open days in October and will be delivered to customers immediately, as orders are already open. As we have seen with the previous lines, it is on the C3 Aircross that Citroën has the most room for progress and this second generation, significantly more spacious, more stylish and at the same time less expensive, should certainly meet its audience as much as it is equipped with hybrid and electric engines.
To sum up, the C3 and C3 Aircross will be the driving force behind Citroën's growth in France over the coming months, and fortunately it is these two models that represent the brand's largest sales. The second half of the year could therefore end much more positively than the first, but it is certainly in 2025 that Citroën will be able to count on these two blockbusters to make rapid progress, especially as the brand will also have redesigned the C4, which should also take advantage of this facelift to make progress.
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