This week's gossip from the automotive industry has news of Citroen's diesel sales, sales of the Nissan Pulsar and Land Rover's bid to stay 'unique'.
Are motor shows worth it for car makers?
The changing media landscape means motor shows must prove their marketing value to continue attracting manufacturers, according to BMW’s senior vice president of brand, Hildegard Wortmann. “As ever, it’s about cost versus return,” she said. “We have to review what we are doing, as some shows don’t attract the right audiences or give us the right opportunities.”
Read more: Read all of the news from this year's Geneva motor show here
Citroen's diesel sales
There has been a major decline in sales of diesel-engined Citroëns, according to the company’s boss, Linda Jackson: “Four years ago, 70% of the cars we sold in Europe were diesels. Now it’s 50%. That’s an enormous shift. It’s why we only offer an automatic on the petrol C3 Aircross, for example. We can cope with the shift.”
Read more: Citroen C3 Aircross to take on Nissan Juke in compact SUV class
Sales of the Nissan Pulsar
Nissan's Pulsar family hatchback has been less prolific than its closely related Nissan Qashqai sibling, but the company’s UK chief, Alex Smith, maintains that sales have been good. “It has met expectations. Market share in the last six months of 2016 was the best that the Pulsar has produced since launch,” said Smith. Sales for 2016 as a whole dipped by 19% year-onyear, though, to 6785. The Pulsar’s best-selling rival, the Ford Focus, sold 70,545 examples over the year.
Read more: 2018 Nissan Leaf confirmed with Propilot Park tech
Land Rover's bid to stay 'unique'
Land Rover wants to grow sales further but not to the detriment of “uniqueness”. Design boss Gerry McGovern said: “We need to grow in order to strengthen ourselves in the long run, but we don’t want to be at the scale of the Germans. If we become too volume-biased, you can become generic.”
Read more: Jaguar Land Rover shows first fully autonomous Range Rover
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Too Late Gerry
And I think Citroen are saying that they need a manual petrol C3 to meet the demand shift, and can do it.
LR unique?
LR should be capable and ready for work
RR should be capable and luxurious.
KlazTerp wrote:
I would agree with you, but it is as a direct result of customer feedback that evolved the Disco '5' into the car it is. HSE and HSE Luxury are the best selling models. Standard 's' trim has barely shifted. Customers want the space, versatility, tech and spec in a single car, not a Range Rover AND a Defender, and I make a prediction that a new model sitting ABOVE HSE Luxury will be launched within the year.
The Citroen part doesn't make sense
So, if I read this correctly, relatively more petrol sales leads to less choice in transmissions on petrol cars? And that is logical how?
C3 Aircross automatic
@ Klaz Terp