Quirky designs will continue to play a key role in Citroen’s reinvention as a brand following the launch of the unconventional Citroen C4 Cactus, Mathieu Bellamy, Citroen’s director of strategy, said.
"Beginning in 2016, you will see new car launches every year that will also be very different from competing models--and definitely very quirky," Bellamy said in an interview.
Future Citroen car designs will especially represent radical departures from the previous-generation C4 and C5, whose designs did not stand out much from other cars or even sister brand Peugeot's models.
“We told the design team that we must reinvent the classic C4 and C5 models when we replace them,” Bellamy said. “So we will replace those cars, of course, with something very different.”
Besides the new Cactus, production models will take many designs cues from the recently unveiled Aircross concept’s unique design.
Bellamy did not offer specifics, but said the Aircross concept represents feel-good and other features that will also help to reinvent it as a brand. “In many ways, the Aircross concept represents the future of the brand and what the range will be tomorrow,” Bellamy.
Unique and unconventional styling elements are also part of Citroen’s strategy to appeal to Generation Y's wants and tastes, which also overlap with older and younger demographic groups, Bellamy said.
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“As part of this new digital age, for example, people increasingly prefer to make their purchasing decisions at home,” Bellamy said. “The codes of the Y Generation are good for everybody, which is why we are targeting this age demographic group.”
Citroen is extending its reach to Internet-savvy customers in a number of ways. The French brand recently began to communicate final-sale retail prices on its Website and to allow for online down payments, for example. Citroen Advisor allows customers to review and publicly share their experiences, both good and bad, at Citroen dealerships.
Citroen’s new identity and its attempt to become the mainstream digital lifestyle brand of choice followed an intensive customer study initiated after Linda Jackson’s appointment as CEO, Bellamy said.
“We have seen that the world is becoming a certain way and that is how we are adjusting our product strategy,” Bellamy said.
