Dongfeng Citroen unsettles in inner management leading to sales slump

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai July 29) -Compared with its brother company Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Citroen performed terribly with a rather low sales performance in the first half of the year in China. The company’s middle-level personnel frequent change and slow reaction in marketing have served as the main factors.

All the models that have been produced and offered in China reported year-on-year sales slide in Dongfeng Citroen, except for the newly launched C3-XR having no previous year sales statistics.

Dongfeng Citroen has altered some newly pointed marketing managers within months, leaving the overall marketing and sales scheme discontinuous. Besides, consumers haven’t received any influence by its marketing, leaving its voice unheard.

Dongfeng Citroen has always shared the same platforms with Dongfeng Peugeot, and thus the two formed a competing relationship as they targeted similar market. Compared with Dongfeng Peugeot’s annual sales of 383,000 units last year, Dongfeng Citroen only sold 320,000 units in the same period with a much lower growth rate than Dongfeng Peugeot.

Unlike the large portfolio including Dongfeng Peugeot 408, 308, 2008, 3008 and 301, Dongfeng Citroen possessed a rather limited one of Elysee and C-QUATRE compact car, as well as the newly launched C3-XR small SUV.

The limited and slowly upgraded production line resulted in Dongfeng Citroen’s dealers faced with high inventory. The relationship between the manufacture and dealers grew to be tense, costing the company more resource to improve the relationship.

The most fundamental factor for sales slide is the bad inside management. The unsettled inner organization discouraged the marketing and sales teams.

Though Dongfeng Citroen planned to launch new models C4L and C5 to improve the unfavorable situation, the company will still encounter big challenges since it has lost the middle-sized vehicle market where its C4L located.