AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/11 Report--

At the beginning of March, a group of posters about "Hubei history's strongest car purchase discount season opened" circulated wildly on the Internet, the content is that Hubei Province government joint Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Citroen, Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Nissan and other brands launched attractive car purchase subsidies.

In this round of "price reduction tide," the performance is quite eye-catching Dongfeng Citroen, the original guidance price of 211,900 yuan, 226,800 yuan Citroen C6 co-creation version model and C6 comfort version model subsidies all reached 90,000 yuan, plus purchase tax, licensing fees and insurance, Citroen C6 may finally land in about 140,000 yuan, the price is quite tempting and powerful. In the eyes of many consumers, although Citroen brand in the market sense of existence is not strong, there is no Japanese car value preservation, even there are many problems, but naked car only needs 120,000 yuan Citroen C6 is really fragrant. Netizens have lamented,"210,000 C6 is all shortcomings, 120,000 C6 only advantages."

So, after this round of subsidies, Citroen C6 sales how? Citroen C6 sold 1259 units in March 2023, Citroen C3-XR 1236 units, while Citroen C5 X Versailles remained the highest selling unit, according to retail figures from the Federation.

At first glance, whether it is C6 or C3-XR, the sales level is not very high. It should be noted that C6 and C3-XR do not contribute much to the sales volume of Citroen brand. Before subsidy, C6 basically maintains the monthly sales level of 70 or 80 units, while the monthly sales of C3-XR with lower price remain around 50 units. That is to say, although the sales volume of C6 and C3-XR after subsidy is only 1,000 units, it is actually equivalent to the sales level of nearly one year. In contrast, C6 rose 215 places from February and C3-XR rose 240 places.

Why is the C6 subsidy so large? Citroen C6 was launched in December 2016. It is based on PSA Group's latest No.3 platform. It is equipped with 1.6T and 1.8T different power. The current price range is 22.68- 236,800 yuan. Wholesale data show that Citroen C6 sales from 2017 to 2022 were 6380, 3925, 2431, 1573, 975 and 2688 respectively. In general, since the launch of C6, sales volume is very average, which may be accompanied by the decline of Shenlong Automobile in the domestic market.

Government subsidies, car enterprises to give profits, inventory depreciation, this set of "combination fist" down, 120,000 C6 not only let the whole people know Citroen brand, but also can let the car enterprises digest the already produced inventory cars, and clean up the parts inventory in the workshop, more importantly, can let the enterprise realize the capital recovery. Therefore, Citroen through the coalition government to make profits, the market heat out, at least can remind people of Citroen's "French romance", and from the brand marketing point of view, this "clearance sale" whether for users or enterprises are worth it.

In addition to Dongfeng Citroen, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Lantu, etc. under Dongfeng all participated in subsidies. Later, Guangdong, Anhui, Tianjin and other provinces and cities began to join in, and dozens of automobile enterprises launched subsidy competition. The market competition became particularly lively. Subsidies have proven to boost sales. According to the data released by the association, FAW-Volkswagen sales increased by 16.4% year-on-year in March, SAIC Volkswagen increased by 7.7% year-on-year, FAW Toyota increased by 7.1% year-on-year, while Chang 'an Automobile, Geely Automobile and Great Wall Motor all declined to varying degrees. Simply put, consumers are more willing to compromise on prices in the context of significantly larger subsidies for joint-venture brands than for self-owned brands.

However, this is only a short-term promotion. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Association, said that Hubei's promotion activities were short-term activities within March and had achieved obvious positive results and played a propaganda role. In the medium and long term, it is not a comprehensive activity, and funding is relatively limited. After the promotion is over, it will return to a normal state without causing "sequelae".

For Citroen brand, this "clearance sale" may have got the results that manufacturers want, but in the extremely competitive automobile industry, especially for endangered automobile brands, price reduction is not a poison to quench thirst.

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