The Business Car Files
Citroen UK Greg Taylor, MD
Greg Taylor replaced previous managing director Eurig Druce in January this year. Martyn Collins speaks to him about the fleet opportunity and how the brand can make its mark in the Stellantis portfolio.
I
Above: Greg Taylor talks about the goals he has set himself after becoming Citroen UK MD in January.
start by asking Greg if he’s identified any areas in fleet that he wants Citroen to focus on – even though he’s only been in the job since January this year. He tells me a lot of the residual value work has been done, so his job is now to consistently manage that. He says: “Citroen had a problem with residual values, but now most of the cars are towards the top of their segments and that has come about through our ‘Fair Pricing’ and channel management over the last two years. “For the past 18 months, the whole industry has been working in a ‘bubble’ environment. It’s not a real environment, and now we’re coming out of that, so of course as supply increases, the challenges are different. I have an objective in the UK to grow the market share of Citroen. My job is ultimately to bring this to a 3% plus market share for cars and
vans combined. Our van performance is pretty good, but where I see the opportunity is with the car range.
“We don’t index as well in fleet as the industry, and the stats bear that out through the course of the brand’s history. So, it’s where we need to get better.
“We will have an opportunity to do that through the breadth and scale of Stellantis. It’s a strategic position to use the power of multiple brands, operating in multiple segments and covering multiple bases to be able to leverage that weight in the industry. Then, in turn open some doors that as a smaller group or as a standalone brand where you might not be afforded the opportunity.
“Citroen has quite a clear position within Stellantis, it doesn’t really touch or come close to what some of our other brands are doing. We
don’t have a Russian Doll of brands - they’re all quite distinct makes. Citroen has a clear identity, a clear direction of travel, it’s clear about what it wants to be, and ultimately has a strong product range that we’ve had for a long time. “Electric vehicles are going to be interesting this year, with the energy crisis and cost of living, weighing heavy on buyers’ minds. If you compare the UK to other countries across Europe, in terms of support mechanisms in place, they don’t really exist in this country anymore – short of the corporate sector and the Benefit in Kind (BiK) benefits. This is where the focus needs to be with the EV range. “We’ve got a good opportunity in fleet for the E-C4 X, it’s got a low P11D value for starters, there’s an opportunity to take this car into the taxi market – which is quite a high-cost sector. “As you start to see Chinese EVs entering the
Citroen’s electric OLI concept car previews the future direction of the French brand.
32 | June 2023 |
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