Citroen India sells 230 C5 Aircross SUVs in April

French carmaker Citroen, which embarked on its India journey with introduction of the C5 Aircross SUV in April with over 1,000 claimed pre-bookings, has sold 230 units in its first month.

Autocar Professional has learnt that the company had produced an estimated 280 vehicles at its plant in Tamil Nadu last month, out of which 230 were despatched to dealers across India. Clearly, it would need to ramp up production by three times to cater to the pending orders.

In its first phase, Citroen India has set up a retail network of 10 ‘La Maison Citroen’ showrooms in key cities including Delhi, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. While the remaining outlets are located in Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune and Kolkata, the company is also emphasising on digital sales, to cater to customer needs, especially during the pandemic.

La Maison showrooms have numerous screens, debuting the ATAWADAC experience (AnyTime AnyWhere AnyDevice AnyContent) and a unique high-definition 3D configurator.

The Citroen C5 Aircross was introduced at a price tag of Rs 29.90 lakh on April 7, and the SUV is being assembled from CKD kits at the company’s 100,000-unit annual capacity plant in Thiruvallur, near Chennai.

The company is banking big on the two key attributes – comfort and design – of its flagship product, which is only available in a single diesel-automatic powertrain combination and rivals the likes of Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace, Jeep Compass and Hyundai Tucson.

However, going forward, the carmaker is focussed on introducing petrol-only engines when it enters the mass-market segment with its ‘C-Cubed’ strategy that aims to roll out one new model every year for the next four to five years in the country.

Citroen India is gearing up to introduce the ‘C21’ compact SUV that will go up against the likes of the Maruti Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Kia Sonet and Nissan Magnite in the Rs 7 to Rs 12 lakh price bracket. The carmaker is also targeting localisation levels of up to 90-95 percent when it introduces the sub-four-metre crossover later this year.