Citroen's incoming CEO worked wonders in the UK
May 9, 2014 06:01 CET
Citroen's new CEO, Linda Jackson, has proved herself in the UK by reducing image-harming discounts, boosting vehicle sales and creating a positive relationship with dealers.
Jackson will try to continue the success when she, the first Brit and the first woman to lead Citroen, takes the controls of the French brand on June 1.
After she became Citroen's UK and Ireland managing director for Citroen in 2010 Jackson boosted profitability by cracking down on the heavily promoted discounts that were hurting residual values.
"We're no longer king of the cashbacks," she told me in an interview last year.
The cutback on discounts did not harm the brand's volume. Citroen's UK sales were up 11 percent to 101,778 vehicles last year compared with the year she started as market boss.
Jackson's bosses in Paris surely would have noticed the effect this had on sales of Citroen's upscale DS subbrand. Last year UK buyers purchased 20,480 DS3s, just 3,000 below the number sold in France and nearly quadruple the UK's 2010 figure. By contrast just 6,558 DS3s were sold in Germany last year. DS demand also wasn't cannibalizing sales of Citroen's less-expensive model lines as 65 percent of DS3 buyers were new to the brand, Jackson told me.
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