Maison Citroen Coming to a town near you???

[xantia_v6]

Citroen are apparently trialling a new concept of Citroen showroom, called "Maison Citroën" The first of these will be in the town of Beaune (pop 25,000 with 2 Citroen dealerships, 2 Peugeot dealerships and a DS Store) in Burgundy (where I would currently be living if not for Covid).

This a a Google translation of the PR:

The first Maison Citroën in the private network arrives in Beaune

After the renewal of its range, Citroën reviewed the car dealerships with the adoption of smaller urban areas called La Maison Citroën which are not intended to replace the existing dealerships but to ensure a presence in town in a smaller place, with only one brand present, and more welcoming.

If the concept of La Maison Citroën has developed in other countries, the first Maison Citroën in the private network will arrive in France in June 2021 thanks to the Chopard group, which has undertaken to transform its Citroën dealership in Beaune into La Maison Citroën. Initially scheduled to open in September, the concession is nine months late due to the Covid.
The goal of this transformation? Michel Varziniac, Director of the Beaune concession declares " At the head of the Dôle concession for 15 years, I took over the management of the Beaune site two years ago. I immediately perceived the conviviality conveyed in the city. and told myself that we had to capitalize on it by offering a sales box such as Maison Citroën. If we have something beautiful to offer to the inhabitants, we can allow Citroën to become a brand to be relied on in Beaune "

If in the basic concept two vehicles are present in each Citroën House, that of Beaune will have six vehicles, ie the entire range of Citroën. With a reduction in space, the site will have a car park and a larger second-hand space, but no question of reducing ambitions, quite the contrary. Michel Varziniac affirms that " The idea is to have the same level of requirement of a DS Store, to offer quality services and to bring added value with jockey or rental services "

This first Maison Citroën in the private network is the result of an investment of 2 million euros and will see the light of day in June 2021 with an ambitious objective of selling 500 new vehicles and 400 used vehicles per year.

Here is the original article (in french).
https://www.passionnement-citroen.com/p ... e-a-beaune


The photoshopped image of the concept looks a lot like this streetview image of the Citroen dealership taken in 2019... but omitting the DS Store next door.
https://goo.gl/maps/3UQ3y6KoNeq7u2D26

[NewcastleFalcon]

Good to pick up the latest marketing goings on Mike, I always take an interest in such things.

The dealer/showroom/service/parts model for selling cars, (or should I say selling finance packages) is going to struggle over coming years. In the PSA days a couple of years ago they came up with this jazzing up of the customer/potential customer experience with "the Experience store" (vid below). With Maison Citroen they have probably come up with the most boring presentation ever of their vehicles and re-invented a 50 year old or more model of a "village garage" . (edit: I'll leave that in but it is a bit more new tech and coffee bar and soft furnishings than I imagined at first) Yes there used to be a Ford dealer in ours, occasionally a couple of new models on display, but if you wanted a Ford you bought it through the local garage.

Might well work in some places but sounds like an expensive going against the flow exercise to me. Unless of course the main showroom dealer offerings, as seems to be the case in the UK, disappear at a rate of knots, and Maison Citroens remain as a rather expensive billboard for visual brand awareness in the communities they are placed.

Now they could return to providing roadsigns....decent brand awareness tool

"The Experience Store"

Here it is in a moving picture with subtitles


Here is a customer on a test drive, wonder if you can virtually kick the tyres

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

I wonder how our local dealer will get on with that , he recently added Suzuki to his range.

https://www.motorhousecoleford.co.uk/

[NewcastleFalcon]

The garage I got the Leaf from used to be a pure Nissan Dealer, then started selling Suzukis and now MG's and Nissan have exited stage left.

Same At Coldstream only they have started selling Great Wall now, and all that's left of Citroen is a sign

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Didn't quite pick up what was in "La Maison Citroen".

Couple of you tube vids may help, although there are flagship La Maisons in locations across the world from Columbia to India to Japan which are probably a bit different from the neighbourhood offerings, although Beaune appears to be the full works.





Not sure if they are trying do do a NIO, or maybe NIO copied them. There are NIO houses throughout China for uses and recreation of their "customers club"

REgards Neil