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00:00Citroën is a daring brand and you will see that, you see that on these cars, you see that on some of the other products that we have and you will see that in the future products.
00:10We are never afraid to offer daring concepts. We are not here to copy what the other ones are doing. We are here to lead the way and to offer things that people did not think of. And this is what you will see in the years to come.
00:30Thierry, thank you very much for letting me be your chauffeur today. Let's talk about this car. So this is the new Citroën EC3. How important is this car for you guys?
00:51Well, it's absolutely vital because it's really, really marks a turnaround for Citroën because we want to be in line with our DNA, which is Citroën is a popular brand.
01:05We make mobility affordable and now we make electric mobility affordable. It was very, very important to be able to make a breakthrough in the market and to propose a car that anyone can afford.
01:18And the reality is that it's so well priced that we think that many people who did not even think of going electric now can go electric.
01:28Why should people go electric? We're being pushed towards electric, it feels, by governments. But why do you say that people should be driving electric?
01:36Well, I think we want to make it as a positive decision as opposed to I'm forced because we have to respect the CO2 or whatever.
01:47And I think for customers, there are really, really some very nice arguments. First of all, it's nice to drive. It's quiet. It's smooth. It's obviously automatic.
01:59But also when you look at the running cost of an electric car, it's frankly, frankly outstanding. Obviously, it depends the country, the cost of electricity or whatever.
02:10But overall, you will be much better off than running a petrol car simply because electricity is much cheaper.
02:19And this is something that you will enjoy. And we think that more and more people will understand that.
02:25And one of the myths you've bust with this car is price. There's price parity between this and the hybrid version, if I'm right in saying. Is that correct?
02:34Exactly.
02:35How have you done that? There must be less margin in the electric car than the hybrid?
02:41Actually not.
02:42Really?
02:43No, the thing is, it has been really designed according to what customers need. You know, we did not want to put in this car a big, fancy battery.
02:58So it's just with the range that customers need. First of all, it's a new technology of battery for us.
03:08It's what we call LFP. Lithium high-phosphate. It's new for us. It's cheaper technology offering same performance, same safety, whatever.
03:20But it's cheaper. And I can tell you that a particular effort has been done to buy this battery at the best possible cost.
03:29And then you have a car that embeds all the equipment that customers need. No more, no less. So it's exactly fitting the customer needs.
03:39Also, the range is very simple. You will not find a long list of options that makes the manufacturing of the car more simple and therefore cheaper.
03:52Choice is something that there's no shortage of. You're saying you're making it simple. This car, the new EC3, has more of a feeling of being like an SUV.
04:01It's a bit more upright. Probably there's a battery under the floor. But the EC3 also has a partner in crime in the EC3 Aircross.
04:10Sure.
04:11I think the EC3 Aircross is going to be the biggest problem this car faces. Aren't people just going to buy the bigger car? It's not that much more expensive.
04:17Well, actually, the EC3 has some SUV clues, but it's not an SUV. We just wanted to make a small hatch. The only thing is, and it's quite funny, when you see it parked amongst many cars, it stands out because it's slightly higher.
04:35And that's very interesting because it gives, and we are in the car here, it gives the feeling of being a bit higher, a lot of space, a lot of light. It's quite pleasant.
04:46But we don't sell it as an SUV, and it is not an SUV. It has some clues that people like in an SUV.
04:53C3 Aircross, it's a different story. It's a proper SUV. By the way, for Citroën, it's something also, it's a rather big breakthrough because with the previous C3 Aircross, we were not really in this segment.
05:08We were at the, you know, at the outskirts of the SUV segment. Now we are really in the middle of the segment with a big car that even comes with a seven-seater version.
05:21Price has always been an issue. There are other issues with charging. In the UK, the government has just been through a consultation asking industry for their views on what they should do in terms of the ZEV mandate and the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars.
05:38What do you think the government needs to do from a consumer point of view to get people to buy more electric cars? What's your message to government?
05:46Well, I think that's quite easy because when you look at all the surveys with customers, their fear is price. How am I going to recharge the car and the range?
06:00Yeah. So the range, it's our business. I mean, we have to offer cars that have a significant range or whatever price. We obviously have to do our job by offering cheap cars. Now, when we have a purchase incentive, it always helps to develop the market. I think anyway, in the long term, we will not have incentive anymore anywhere because we need to learn how to make electric cars.
06:29We need to make electric cars in a cheap way so that customers buy even if they don't have incentive. Now, the key point is the charging infrastructure. This is really where public and private bodies can help to develop the infrastructure. This is very important. You know, I use every day an EC4 in France and I do long trips with it.
06:54But I know it's mainly in France, but I know that in France, whatever petrol station I will stop, I will find a bunch of charging stations. All of them work. I know with my navigation, which ones are free or not.
07:12I know it. I know how much I'm going to pay. It's very transparent. It's very efficient. And it's fearless. I mean, you lose all anxiety, all fear of, you know, not being able to recharge.
07:25And this is where we need the support and the help of governments, of cities, whatever. But this is where we need some support.
07:34Could you not play a part? I mean, Tesla has its own charging network. What about your retailers, for example? Would they all have public charges?
07:41We have a plan. We have a plan for that. And we are developing a plan where the idea is that our retailers would also offer on their parking lot some charging possibility.
07:56And I know many of them who do it already. But obviously, it's not going to be sufficient because if you do long trips, you're going to travel on motorways.
08:04So you don't necessarily want to exit the motorway to go back and so on.
08:10This is why we need a proper infrastructure on all the main roads. This is really, really key.
08:17Let's talk about the challenges that Citroen faces, particularly from the Far East.
08:22A lot of new brands coming. Now, you, I presume, you want to grow market share.
08:27You want to sell more cars, that the size of the pie isn't going to grow, but more people are going to be after the slice of pie that you have.
08:35Are you going to be able to grow your market share and sales in the face of an onslaught of Chinese rivals coming your way?
08:43Well, first of all, we need to fight with the same weapons as them, which means they are able to come with cars that are cheap, with a lot of technology.
08:54So we need to be able to fight with the same thing, which means production costs.
09:01This is very important.
09:02But I think that one of the advantages that Citroen has is still there are a lot of manufacturers, particularly European manufacturers, that did not reach the point of electric affordability.
09:16We have a real, real opportunity for Citroen because amongst European, even some Asian manufacturers,
09:27we are very well placed with cars made in Europe and that are really, really affordable.
09:33So I think for us, it's an opportunity.
09:36Obviously, we are absolutely aware of the threat of the Chinese, but we have in front of us, I think, a great commercial opportunity for Citroen.
09:45I speak to a lot of Chinese car makers and talk to them about a difference.
09:50What is the difference from a consumer's point of view in their brand versus other brands?
09:54What is the Citroen difference?
09:57What does my next door neighbors, what do they see when they walk into a Citroen dealer that is different to when they walk into a BYD or a motor dealer with the cars?
10:06Well, I think that they will, first of all, have a European brand benefiting.
10:13And this is something we should not neglect from a huge dealer network, well-established position, spare parts availability.
10:24And so there is no worry if you buy a Citroen, you will get all the services you need wherever you are in the UK or in any other part of Europe or of the world.
10:35So this is something that we should really take into consideration.
10:39And then we have this European flavor that we have in the car through the design.
10:45Citroen is also a brand that has a very strong DNA and very strong history.
10:51And particularly, we want to push the values of Citroen, which are the comfort.
10:57And frankly, we have been here for now 15 minutes in this car.
11:02It's very comfortable.
11:03It's something that is really outstanding.
11:05That's the strength of Citroen.
11:07It has always been something very, very strong and we want to keep it.
11:11And also, Citroen is a daring brand.
11:14And you will see that on these cars.
11:17You see that on some of the other products that we have.
11:20And you will see that in the future products.
11:22We are never afraid to offer daring concepts.
11:27We are not here to copy what the other ones are doing.
11:30We are here to lead the way and to offer things that people did not think of.
11:35And this is what you will see in the years to come.
11:38Comfort is an interesting one, isn't it?
11:39Because one of the things that's impressed me about this car is the ride comfort.
11:43We're on Oxfordshire roads, typical British roads.
11:45Not great, but this is a comfortable car to be in.
11:48We have made some specific things in this car that make it comfortable.
11:56We have the progressive hydraulic cushion suspension.
12:00We have what we call the advanced comfort seats.
12:04These are features that you used only to find on higher end cars like C4 or C5 Aircross.
12:13Now we decided to democratize that and to have it on C3 and on C3 Aircross.
12:20It's a first.
12:21It's available in all the versions, even the base versions.
12:25And this is really, really great because that makes a big difference.
12:29One question I'm very keen for you to answer.
12:31We've had a bit of a to and fro in the British media about a very big name in Citroën's history.
12:39We've had some people say that you've said, we are going to be building a new Citroën 2CV.
12:44We've had other people say that you have said, we're not going to be building a new Citroën 2CV.
12:50So now is your chance.
12:51Yes or no, will you be building a new Citroën 2CV?
12:56We may.
12:57We may.
12:58We may.
12:58That's sitting on the fence a little bit there, Thierry.
13:01No, but let me elaborate on that because I know it's, you know, every time, every time I have the question, the reality is we are not so keen on, you know, nostalgia, retro design or whatever.
13:19But at the same time, we understand that there is a trend.
13:24We understand that we have some icons.
13:27What I want to do for Citroën is to have some PR models, not so many C3, C3 Aircross, C4, C5 Aircross.
13:39They are for us the PR models.
13:41They are ensuring the pace of our sales.
13:45This is what we are offering to the customers.
13:49It's affordable mobility.
13:51But for a brand like Citroën, we need to have some icons, which means cars that would not necessarily be here to make a lot of volume, but cars who would lift the brand, who would be really aspirational.
14:07We have today, for example, a good example is a Citroën AMI, you know, the small quadricycle.
14:13It's very aspirational, it's very cheap, but it's very aspirational because people buy it because they really love it.
14:21It's something that is really breakthrough.
14:23This is what we want to explore.
14:26So to answer to your question, we may.
14:29Are there other cars in your history that you may also want to reinvent?
14:33I'm not going to go there with the Zara, but I understand you used to have a VISA?
14:38Yes, absolutely.
14:39That was my first car.
14:40My first and my second one, because the first one was a white VISA base.
14:45The second one was a VISA GTI.
14:47Oh, now we're talking.
14:48Great, allo wheels, marvelous, the business.
14:51So that was really good.
14:54But no, when you look at the iconic cars of Citroën, you have the 2CV, you have the DS, but obviously it's not anymore within our score.
15:07That's been taken away from you a little bit, isn't it?
15:09It has been taken away.
15:11To be honest, one car that I absolutely love is the SM, but you know, it's something that probably we will not do anymore, at least at Citroën.
15:24And then you can think of other products like, you know, the GS was also something very popular and very nice.
15:32Personally, I very much like the CX.
15:36But, you know, I think the playground of Citroën is the B and the C segment, which means we want to go from C3 to C5 across.
15:50We do not intend, or at least it's not on our priority to have bigger cars than that.
15:56So we will not explore bigger cars.
15:58So I really prefer to concentrate on the B segment and the people mover up to C5 across, but that's where I will stop.
16:09What about modern classics?
16:10Because one car that really struck me as being brilliant was the Olli.
16:15Now, these cars have the spirit of Olli, but could Olli become a product in its own right?
16:20Yeah, absolutely.
16:21It's also something we are thinking of.
16:24There was in Olli some very smart solutions and very smart ideas.
16:30You know, all the rare opening and so on.
16:33Yeah, some clever thinking.
16:33All the ideas of lightness, of essential things, of simple things.
16:41You had very disruptive seeds that were very thin.
16:45And that was interesting.
16:47So it's an inspiration.
16:49We are working on it.
16:50I'm not telling you it's going to come in the next year.
16:54But yes, there will be an inspiration and there will be a successor to Olli.
17:00And some iconic cars as well, which may be a 2CV.
17:05We have, obviously, I'm not going to reveal the whole product plan,
17:08but it's really the combination of pace, volume cars that are really expressing what Citroën is doing,
17:17which is affordable mobility.
17:19And some icons, not so many because we don't need so many,
17:22but some icons that are really, really aspirational and that will lift the brand.
17:28What about cheaper Citroëns?
17:30Because you have AMI and then there's a big gap between that and C3.
17:34And we're seeing lots of brands talk about 20,000 euro cars.
17:39Will you have an A-segment car or something between AMI and C3?
17:43We are a bit reluctant to that because it's a tiny segment, actually.
17:52When you look at the issue we have with smaller cars,
17:56is obviously the consumer expects to pay cheaper.
18:02But to make a 4-meter car or a 3.6-meter car,
18:06at the end of the day, it's almost the same production cost.
18:09So it really puts you under pressure on the margins
18:14because the economic equation is complicated.
18:18And again, it's a small market.
18:20But I understand the request to have something cheaper than the current EC3.
18:27Well, we have it because very soon we will have the 200-kilometer,
18:34so I don't know, 130-mile version of the EC3.
18:39I said the car would be 20,000 euro.
18:42And we are going to be able to offer the car at 20,000 euro
18:45or the equivalent, obviously, in pounds.
18:48And it will be with the same technology and things that we have in this car as well.
18:51Yes, the only thing is, obviously, the battery will be smaller.
18:56But, you know, we think that for a lot of people
18:59who only drive in a city or, you know,
19:04going to work and back or whatever,
19:07offering 200-kilometer, 130 miles, it's more than enough.
19:11It's enough for the daily usage.
19:13You touched on just, we're nearly back at our...
19:17where we've got to finish our conversation, sadly.
19:20I just want to touch on retail very quickly
19:22because you used to run a car dealer in the UK.
19:25Absolutely, in London.
19:26We've spoken a lot about agency with the car makers
19:29taking more responsibility for selling cars.
19:32What part do retailers play in the future of car selling?
19:36Well, they play absolutely a key role.
19:40And, you know, I'm absolutely against the idea that this is the end of the distributors
19:48because everything will be done online or whatever.
19:52It has to be a combination of I do part of my journey online.
19:57Actually, what you can see today is that customers are extremely, extremely well educated
20:03and informed about the car.
20:05They have done their homework.
20:06But at the end of the day, the, you know, the purchase experience,
20:12it's something that where you need a human feel,
20:17you need human contact,
20:18you need to be able to, you know, test drive the car with someone that knows it,
20:24someone who helps you to make the right choice.
20:27This is very important.
20:29Plus, obviously, after that, all the after sales facilities and so on.
20:33So I think that I really, really believe in the future of the retailers
20:38because we absolutely, as a manufacturer, we absolutely need them.
20:43You know, when I was running a dealership in London,
20:46I was selling cars myself a lot, particularly on Sunday
20:49because none of my salesmen wanted to work on them on Sunday.
20:53That's an issue.
20:54Yeah, I tried to buy a car on Sunday and I couldn't.
20:56So I was doing that and I sold quite a few.
21:00And I really always enjoyed it.
21:03And I see the added value of a good salesman
21:06because he can really give the right advice to the consumer.
21:11So this is, for me, an activity that has a lot of future.
21:16That's good to hear, particularly in the electric world.
21:19Electric cars need explaining.
21:20We're very nearly back.
21:22Thank you again for giving us your time, letting me be your chauffeur.
21:25I have two more questions for you.
21:27We've said at the outset this is kind of like carpool karaoke,
21:30but without the singing.
21:32I mean, you're welcome to sing.
21:33But if you're in the car singing to yourself,
21:35what music would you listen to?
21:37Two days ago, I went to a concert of a British guy called Jamie Cullum.
21:44All right, okay.
21:45The pianist, yeah.
21:45Jazz pianist.
21:46Absolutely, absolutely amazing.
21:48Absolutely amazing.
21:49Probably the best concert of my life.
21:51Really?
21:52Well, it was absolutely amazing.
21:54I tell you that the whole audience was standing and so on.
21:59It was absolutely brilliant.
22:01So to wake you up in the morning, I think it's great.
22:04Bit of Jamie Cullum.
22:05Yeah.
22:06Why not, indeed?
22:07Second question, I ask everybody.
22:09I rate your cars, so I will be rating this car.
22:12Sure.
22:13How would you rate me as a driver?
22:15I have to say that I don't know if it's you or if it's the car,
22:20but I feel perfectly relaxed.
22:22It's the car.
22:23Yeah.
22:24Maybe it's you as well.
22:25Yeah.
22:26Because you drive very well.
22:27So marks out of 10 for the Steve Citroen combination.
22:30Give us a mark out of 10.
22:32I give it a 9.5.
22:34Thank you very much.
22:36Thierry.
22:37I really appreciate it.
22:39Thank you very much.
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