Citroen, Fiat struggle to gain foodhold
By Rachel Lee
Citroen DS5
Fiat 500 Lounge
Non-German car companies, which recently made a comeback to the domestic market, are struggling to gain a foothold here due to sluggish sales, reports suggested Monday.
They have sought to chase their German competitors, which have dominated the country’s imported car market, but the gap has been widening.
According to Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), the number of cars sold by BMW and Mercedes-Benz sold last month were 2,583 and 1,404, respectively, whereas other brands such as Lexus and Peugeot only saw three-digit sales. Some companies even sold less than 100 cars last month.
French automaker Citroen, which made its official comeback in April last year, has had poor sales figures even with the launch of its flagship DS5 model in January. The company promoted the model aggressively as the car chosen by French president Francois Hollande during his inaugural parade. The number of cars sold here reached 33 last month on top of a total of 255 last year, which fell way short of its aim of 1,500.
Italian auto giant Fiat, which made a comeback last month after a 17 year absence, is also not doing as well as expected. According to KAIDA, the automaker, represented by Chrysler Korea, had sold only 85 cars as of last month, far less than what the 293 Minis sold by its competitor.
For Japanese car maker Mitsubishi, the situation is even worse. It only sold 11 cars in January and six last month.
Industry experts point out that German cars have dominated the Korean car market with their strong brand power and outstanding technical prowess, which leave no room for late comers. Also those non-German brands have failed to differentiate themselves from the competition.
“Except for such German brands as BMW, Mercedes and Audi, other European and Japanese companies lack capability,” Lee Hyung-sil, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities told The Korea Times Monday. “These days, consumers can easily get information online so that they get a better idea about a certain car model and they compare prices sold here and abroad. Mostly young people buy imported cars and they seek value for money. Why would they pay a lot of money for a car that lags behind high quality German cars?”
With regard to the issue of poor performance, the firms concerned said sales figures will improve in the years to come.
“We don’t necessarily see last month’s achievement as bad. It is the first month since the launch and we are continuing to promote our models under the theme Life Addiction,” said Fiat spokesman Kelly Yoon. “Our competitor Mini has been here for a long time and we need some time until we settle in the market.”
Citroen also shared a similar view.
“It takes a bit of time for us to raise brand awareness to the level where German car makers are now. For the last year, we focused on building up brand awareness rather than sales or profits. Now we see that more people in the country have become interested in Citroen cars and we are planning to host various events to attract customers and communicate with them,” said Han Seung-jo, the PR manager at Citroen.