Articles by Stephen Ottley

It didn’t take a crystal ball to foresee Citroen’s departure from the Australian car market. The French brand had struggled for years, both to find its identity and sell cars to local buyers.Ultimately, it doesn’t matter about heritage, longevity or brand recognition if you don’t sell enough cars in the relatively small Australian market. Just ask the people at Holden about that.But with Citroen meeting what felt like an inevitable demise, it’s worth turning our attention to the other brands that face a similar struggle. To be crystal clear, this article is not suggesting any of the following brands are in imminent danger of departing the local market.Instead it is simply a study of those near the bottom of the sales charts that have a chance to improve their position, or risk suffering the same endless questions Citroen executives endured over the past decade.Rather than dwelling on the negatives, we’ll look at the ways these brands could turn their fortunes around in Australia.The little Italian brand just keeps plugging away with its solo model, the 500e (and its Abarth variant) to fly the flag now the petrol-powered 500 is gone after 17 years on sale.In the first half of 2024 Fiat managed just 290 sales, which represented a nearly 30 per cent decline on the same period in 2023.On the plus side, Fiat is under the wider Stellantis banner and will gain support from that, as well as the additional 533 sales of Fiat Professional's Ducato van. The reality is, Fiat is not a volume brand in Australia, it’s a high-margin niche one focused on electric cars in a still growing EV market. As long as the brand’s management accepts that and plans accordingly it will tick along steadily.In the first half of 2024 the British brand sold just 403 cars, which is a small number — even for a luxury brand. What’s really surprising is that that figure represented a near 70 per cent increase on the the first half of last year.But there isn’t any panic or even concern within the Jaguar offices. The Big Cat is in a holding pattern at the moment as the brand tries to reinvent itself (again) as an all-electric upper-luxury brand. So there is no investment in the current product line-up, with the XE, XF and F-Type all no longer in production.When the new electric models come online in the next year or two, expect Jaguar to leap back into action, but for now, expectations have to be kept in check.The problem for Genesis is it’s no longer at the beginning of its story. The brand has been on sale as a stand-alone entity for five years and has multiple models, including three SUVs. In other words, it’s had time to find its feet and has the key models you need.So why then did sales slide backwards 18.5 per cent in the first half of 2024? None of its models are finding much traction against an expansive and diverse array of rivals from the more-established rivals such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Audi. Hyundai is used to playing the long-game, so I wouldn’t expect them to give up on Genesis anytime soon. After all, it’s taken Lexus the better part of three decades to become a thorn-in-the-side of BMW and Mercedes. Plus, Mercedes itself is struggling, taking a 24.1 per cent sales hit in the first half of this year.Genesis models have improved in quality, but the increase in price may stifle the potential for growth. It will be interesting to watch how the brand reacts and evolves in the next 12-18 months.Citroen’s French stablemate also makes this list. Selling just 1190 new vehicles in the first six months of 2024, Pegueot matched its 2023 sales result almost exactly (just four cars difference). While Peugeot does significantly better than Citroen, it’s still one of the smallest non-premium brands in the local market.It’s a shame, because it makes some very nice cars, arguably on par with competitors like Volkswagen and Mazda, but the decision to push more upmarket hasn’t helped volume.The addition of the Boxer, Expert and Partner commercial vehicles (at the expense of Citroen’s former offerings in the same segments) helps to boost the overall numbers, with the Partner the brand’s second most popular model behind the 2008.With Citroen gone, Peugeot will have one less obvious rival and can work to improve its reach, while likely remaining a niche brand. It feels a bit like we’re picking on the Stellantis Group in this story, but this is just the way the numbers have worked out. The American off-road brand should arguably be thriving in the current SUV and ute-dominated market, but the rugged Gladiator and Wrangler, as well as the more luxurious Grand Cherokee, just haven’t attracted buyers in big numbers.Only 1282 sales in the first half of the year, which represents a massive 52 per cent decline on 2023, is not a good position. Perhaps Jeep's new, all-electric and compact Avenger can help rejuvenate its sales and bring a fresh audience? That will certainly be what the brand’s local managers will be hoping for.

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Reviewing cars for CarsGuide is a wonderful job (in fact, don’t tell them but it really doesn’t feel like a job) and it means I’m on the road more than the average motorist. It also means I’ve been lucky enough to drive in other countries and get a sense for what’s the same, what’s better and what’s worse.

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