Sime Darby Motors Group is the new importer of the Citroen brand in Australia, effective today (February 1).
Citreon joins Peugeot Australia and Ssangyong under the Sime Darby Motors Group umbrella, and complements the company’s recent foray into the Porsche Centre Parramatta retail operation.
“We are excited to welcome the Citroen brand to the Sime Darby family,’’ says SDMG managing director, Rob Dommerson.
“The brand has great heritage around the world and, given the connection of Citroen and Peugeot globally, it made sense to bring the two brands together here in Australia as the distributor.”
While the two brands will operate under the one roof it will only be the back end functions that will be shared. Citroen will have its own sales and marketing teams.
Automotive industry veteran, John Startari, takes on the role of general manager, Citroen Australia operations.
Startari has been in the industry for 28 years and boasts retail experience with GM Holden, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Peugeot. He has also worked with Malaysian car maker, Proton, and with Lotus in the areas of technical homologation, aftersales and sales. His most recent role was managing director of Proton Australia.
“I’m really looking forward to being a part of the relaunch of the Citroen brand in Australia,” Startari says.
“Citroen is a great brand that is steeped in history. Given the synergies between Citroen and Peugeot it makes sense in terms of economies of scale to combine the two brands. I see that it will help us provide better levels of service to our customers through shared resources and parts.”
“Our focus in the initial phase will be on rationalising the model line-up, simplifying the pricing structure, [and] building the dealer network as well as paying particular attention to the DS range.”
Citroen will start operation with 20 dealers across the country and is currently in negotiations to build its dealer network.
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