00:00You are supporting expensive technologies, so you are not really supporting an expansion of the European car market.
00:06We are in Europe at less than 10% of electrified vehicles, and we have to accelerate.
00:12You cannot reduce everything to price.
00:19Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we sit down with some of the biggest names in industry.
00:26I'm Eleanor Butler, and today I'm joined by Xavier Chardon, CEO at Citroën.
00:33Thank you so much, Xavier, for being with us here today.
00:37Chinese brands have seen significant success in Europe.
00:41For example, BYD has been very popular in terms of its EVs.
00:46What does this mean for Citroën?
00:49I mean, Chinese are strong competitors.
00:51We know that the Chinese market is by far the number one market in terms of electrification.
00:57So, of course, the Chinese brands come with a lot of knowledge.
01:00But Citroën, you know, we have 107 years of history.
01:04We exist since 1919.
01:06We have a strong DNA, strong innovation pattern.
01:09And we believe that it's not the first time that we are facing competition.
01:13We had the Japanese, South Koreans.
01:15Now we have the Chinese that are coming in.
01:17We have to adapt.
01:19We have to electrify our models.
01:21We have also to be, I would say, very cautious in terms of affordability.
01:26That's why we have decided to reposition the price of the EC3.
01:30The car is now available with European range below €20,000.
01:34In France, with incentives, it's even one of the most affordable EVs in the market.
01:39It started at €13,900 after incentives.
01:42So, we are democratizing electrification and we are not afraid of Chinese.
01:53Citroën is an established, well-known brand.
01:57But given that there are so many cheap Chinese alternatives in Europe,
02:02do you think that brand loyalty really exists nowadays?
02:06Brand loyalty at Citroën is still strong.
02:08We are at above 50%.
02:10So, we have a strong base of loyal customers.
02:13Price is a very important element of the buying process.
02:17But you cannot reduce everything to price.
02:19If you are focusing on price, you may be overtaken by newcomers like Chinese or other brands
02:24that will emerge by promoting their cars.
02:28So, you need to be affordable, but to have also content that stands out in the market.
02:33And that's also why we put an eight-year warranty, because pricing is important,
02:37but the value of a car is even more important in Europe.
02:40A recent independent study claimed that the Citroën C3 was the cheapest car to maintain in France.
02:46Is this something that you think about when you're manufacturing your cars?
02:50Exactly, because, you know, the least price is important.
02:53But what is even more important when you keep your cars for eight or nine years is the TCO,
02:58so total cost of ownership.
03:00So, not only the price, but also the consumption of the car.
03:05And the C3 is very low on consumption.
03:07And also the maintenance.
03:09When you buy a car, when you use a car, it's the second expense in the household after the house.
03:14So, this is very important that we make efforts there.
03:16And this is absolutely key for the Citroën brand.
03:19And one of the key recent developments for European car makers relates to an EU decision
03:25to ease a ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars after 2035.
03:31Are you happy about this decision?
03:33You can see the glass half full or half empty.
03:36Half full because we see that there's a potential for improvement and understanding about the situation.
03:41And the rules that were defined in 2017, we see that the market is not moving into electrification
03:48as fast as anticipated.
03:50But half empty because there are many, many topics that are not covered yet.
03:55If I take one example on the LCV, people today are not willing to buy electric LCVs
04:02because it's simply not answering the way they use the car.
04:04When you use a LCV, you cannot charge at home.
04:07You cannot charge in the office.
04:08The TCO is not competitive yet.
04:10So, we are in Europe at less than 10% of electrified vehicles and we have to accelerate.
04:16And here we see that the European Union has made a slight effort, but it's not far enough.
04:20And the new EU proposal softens the emissions ban.
04:24But on the other hand, it also requires the use of green steel and biofuels in non-electric cars.
04:31Is this a realistic suggestion?
04:34I would say it's a slight opening because, of course, you are not at 100% yet, but you have this 90%.
04:40But for the 10% that are remaining, you have, like you said, biofuel.
04:45It's good.
04:46But what you have to bear in mind is that those are three expensive technologies.
04:50And today, if you look at the European market, before COVID and after COVID, the market lost 3 million cars.
04:57Those 3 million cars, 60% of them come from cheap cars or entry models, cars that were below 15,000 euros that disappeared.
05:06And, you know, by promoting e-fuel, by promoting range extender, by promoting plug-in hybrid, you are supporting expensive technologies.
05:14So, you are not really supporting an expansion of a European car market.
05:18So, this is where we hope that we will have a bit more of understanding about this situation and bring rules that make cars more affordable.
05:25Do you worry that a relaxing of the ban will actually put Europe behind, say, other countries like China that are really steaming forward with this green technology?
05:35We have to react, especially if you look at battery technology.
05:39This is absolutely important that we reduce our dependency to the Chinese producer.
05:44And that's why on Stellantis, we have decided to invest in a joint venture.
05:48In France, we will do another one, a joint venture also with CATL, which is a Chinese leader in terms of battery technology.
05:54And we believe that with this joint venture of 50-50, we will also gain understanding about the technology and keep progressing and also get access to the future technologies.
06:07And in terms of your sales over the last few years, are you seeing a really marked change in terms of preferences for electric vehicles or also for petrol and diesel cars?
06:16What's very interesting is that, in general, we see a slight acceleration of the electrification, but at a rather low pace.
06:24We will be around 20% of electrified vehicles in Europe in 2025.
06:30So, one car out of five.
06:32But Europe has big, big differences.
06:36And between markets like Norway, 95% of the cars sold in 2025 were pure electric vehicles.
06:42On the other side, if you look at Croatia, Italy, you are below 5%.
06:47So, the 20% is a spectrum, is an average of a very, very different spectrum.
06:53Citroën, in 2025, we doubled our sales of electric vehicles.
06:58And Stellantis was formed five years ago from a merger between PSA and Fiat Chrysler automobiles.
07:05What has changed since 2021?
07:08I would say the fact that we are now part of Stellantis' group is giving us more volume, more scale.
07:16So, if I look at the C5 Aircross, for example, we have the chance to have a fantastic new platform that we share with our colleagues of Peugeot, Jeep, and Opel.
07:26And this is bringing a new state of technology.
07:28If we were alone, we wouldn't be able to have, for example, electric vehicles, a range up to 680 kilometers.
07:35So, we try to optimize the scale through Stellantis, but still keep our DNA that is pretty unique.
07:43Great.
07:43Thank you so much for sharing your time and coming on The Big Question.
07:46It was a great pleasure.
07:47It's been a pleasure.
07:48Thanks for visiting us.
07:48We'll see you next time.
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