The quality of French cars like Peugeot Citro?n is very good, so why aren’t they selling well?

The sales of French cars are indeed not as good as those of other brands. For example, the monthly sales volume of Citroen's entire series is not as much as that of the Great Wall Haval H6, but the technology of French cars is still good; the reason why they cannot sell is mainly because of poor quality, pricing and marketing methods. Let’s analyze the following together. The chassis technology is excellent, but the publicity is not adequate

First of all, French cars are most famous for their chassis tuning technology. In the current era of MacPherson struts at the front and multi-links at the rear, French cars are Most car models still use rear torsion beam panel suspension. People think that panel suspension is just to save money. I think this view is relatively one-sided. French cars are still good at suspension technology. The most outstanding one is, of course, that Citro?n cars have gone through a series of chassis tests and continuously adjusted the suspension parameters such as spring stiffness, damping size, wheel positioning and so on. This torsion beam suspension brings out the feeling of independent suspension.

As far as suspension technology is concerned, French cars were already leading representatives in the last period. In 1955, Citro?n released the DS19, which was the world's first car to use a high-pressure air-hydraulic suspension system, which is similar to the magic body of the current Mercedes-Benz S-Class. In addition to the chassis and suspension, French cars are not lagging behind in terms of body technology and material application technology. For example, the Peugeot 307 uses 12-year-old stainless double-sided galvanized steel plates, laser welding, and electroplating. Primer, weld anti-rust glue and other processes. The market responds slowly and does not pay attention to the domestic market.

Then the question arises. Since the technology is so good, why is it difficult to sell and not popular? In the past, French cars were actually quite popular, and the most famous one was Fukang, one of the top three cars. In 1992, Citro?n and Dongfeng cooperated to introduce the Fukang hatchback sedan to China. Together with Santana and Jetta, it is known as the third car. Compared with Santana and Jetta of the same period, Fukang's overall design technology content is actually higher. Until the discontinuation of production in 2008, Fukang sold more than 500,000 vehicles in China. You can't say it is unpopular, right?

It is a pity that when Fukang sales were booming, Citro?n did not pursue its success and launch new models. It was not until 2002 that the Elysee was launched. This shows that the French are particularly slow to respond to the market. At this time, the variety of Volkswagen models has far exceeded that of Citro?n; Santana, Jetta, POLO and other models are already everywhere on the market, and the French still don’t know what they are doing.

When SUV models began to gain popularity in China for a long time, French cars began to make SUV models, such as Peugeot's 4008 and 5008 models. As for Citro?n's first 150,000-class SUV model, it only went on sale in August 2017. It has been on sale for a long time. Not only is the speed of vehicle model updates relatively slow, but the configuration updates of French cars are also relatively slow. Especially for gearboxes, Volkswagen has long started to use dual-clutch or 6AT gearboxes. French cars are still a step behind. Many models of Citro?n and Peugeot still use 4AT gearboxes. Romantic color, not down to earth.

We all know that the main selling point of French cars is French romantic design, but precisely because this biggest selling point is romance, it lacks the hard power of the car series. After all, the so-called romance is only liked by a few people. This sales volume is not good, and the value retention rate of French cars is lower than that of models of the same level. From the 2017 China Automobile Value Retention Rate Report, it can be seen that the average five-year value retention rate of French cars is 42.67, ranking lowest among all joint venture brands.

Due to poor sales, there will be various extended influencing factors, such as the high price of repair parts and the relatively high cost of maintaining a car, which will discourage consumers. To give a comparative example of calculating the maintenance fee for 60,000 kilometers, the average maintenance fee for Camry is 3,594 yuan, Magotan is 5,800 yuan, but Citroen C5 is 7,330 yuan. Therefore, the price of romance is also very high.

Generally speaking, French cars are niche designs. The quality of the car is average, but the chassis is very good. There may be more minor problems, but the maintenance time will be longer. Overall, it is okay, but it still depends on your own personal preference. Like it, what you like is the best.

The above opinions are only personal opinions. Everyone is welcome to communicate, share and learn together. Thank you all!