Although Peugeot has traditionally held a higher market share in Brazil than its PSA sibling Citroën, the ‘chevron’ brand has been growing strongly here of late.
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And new local president Ivan Segal plans to boost Citroën’s share from 2.5% now to 4.5 to 5% within three years. For 2009 alone, his goal is 14%-growth, well beyond the overall market growth forecast of just 1%. If he achieves that, Citroen’s market share would rise 0.4 of a percentage point.
“The strategy since launch in Brazil was to establish a premium image for the Citroën brand. There are very few countries in which we have achieved that,” Segal told just-auto. “We will not struggle to sell high volumes in the entry level segments here,” he added.
Despite Segal’s optimisim, the world financial crisis has hit his short-term plans. The launch of the new C3 Picasso small MPV, a strategic new model intended to capitalise on the growing buying power of Brazilian consumers, has been delayed and the new model – a rival for the likes of the locally built Chevrolet Meriva and Fiat Idea – will now arrive next year instead of this year, as first planned.
The brand currently has 118 dealers in 84 cities but plans 150 outlets by 2010. Good geographic coverage in a continent-sized country is crucial for so called ‘newcomers’ like Citroen which competes with long-established players including Volkswagen and GM here.
Each percentage point of market share gained in Brazil adds roughly $500m to an automaker’s annual turnover.
Brazil is now the eighth largest market for Citroën – tied with Belgium and behind France, Spain, China, Italy, the UK and Germany.
“I see the potential for the Brazilian market to be Citroën’s fourth largest”, a confident Segal said.
Fernando Calmon
