It was a logical step for Peugeot importer Sime Darby Automobiles NZ (SDANZ) to take on the New Zealand agency for Citroen, especially given the two automotive brands have been owned by the same French parent company, PSA Peugeot-Citroen since 1976.
SDANZ officially took over the Citroen brand on February 1, and the previous divisional manager of Peugeot, Simon Rose, now heads the Citroen division.
Simon Rose says the company has already started work on enhancing the dealer network and strategy to reinvigorate the brand, and to aim for sales of more than 400 vehicles by the end of 2013.
The three existing Citroen dealers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch have now been joined by more in Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Blenheim and Nelson.
Citroen offers two distinct model lines, the mainstream C3 and C4 hatches and C5 sedans, as well as the premium and more avant garde DS3, DS4, as well as the new DS5 range of hatches.
The Citroen Berlingo van will disappear off the new model price list, and SDANZ has confirmed that the similar-sized Peugeot Partner van will continue instead, and will be joined by the larger Expert and Boxer delivery vans.
SDANZ has rationalised the number of Citroen models and engine choices from those which were previously available. The C3 and C4 hatches will be exclusively petrol powered, while the C5 sedan will be exclusively available with only 2-litre or 3-litre diesel engines, and the C5 station wagons will be available to confirmed indent order.
The DS3 and DS4 are available only with petrol engines, while the DS5 is available with turbo-charged 1.6-litre petrol or 2-litre diesel engines. The unique DS5 Hybrid4 is expected to arrive in the middle of 2013.
Capped price service plans for 36 months and 60,000km will also become available for the new Citroen models as these have become very popular with Peugeot buyers according to SDANZ .