Citroën was the fastest growing mainstream passenger car brand in Ireland for Q3 thanks to a registration performance of 340 units, which was up 29% on 2018 figures. The C3, their B-Segment hatchback, was the main winner with 66 registrations, up 18% on 2018 figures while the C3 Aircross, the compact B-segment SUV achieved 65 registrations, up 16% on last year. During this successful quarter three period, Commercial vehicle sales accounted for 58% of the total brand registrations with the New Berlingo Van, the International van of the year 2019, accounting for 358 of these 467 registrations ensuring the model was up 21% on 2018 figures.
Speaking at the Citroën Annual Dealer Conference in Dublin on Thursday, Citroën Ireland’s Managing Director, Pat Ryan, said: “It is no surprise to me that we are the fastest growing passenger car brand in Ireland given the hard work and commitment of our dealer network. The Citroën brand is on a charge and we are looking forward, in anticipation to our Q4 order intake period and a successful 201 plate. Our brand boasts the third cleanest fleet in Europe with an average g/km Co2 of just 107g and that is before we venture into our electrification journey next year. These figures will only benefit us further into the future with VRT savings and that is why we are delighted to give a commitment to our customers that our prices will remain unchanged for the 201 order intake period, this will provide reassurance to our customers in an industry full of model discontinuations and price increases in recent months on the back of WLTP integration.”
The momentum for the brand is set to continue as the launch of the New C5 Aircross Commercial took place last week also. This commercial vehicle boasts a carnivorous 1,630 litres of cargo space and becomes the first commercial vehicle in Ireland with Progressive Hydraulic Cushion suspension® and ConnectedCAM® as standard. The brand also confirmed that next year will see the launch of its first ever plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with the launch of the C5 Aircross PHEV boasting a full electric WLTP drive up to 50 kilometres. This announcement comes on the back of the C5 Aircross winning the ‘comfort award’ at the annual CarWow car of the year recently in London.
