He complains a lot, so he decides to do his thing. Every two weeks, our professional complainant shares what’s bothering him. Today is another outing for Carlos Tavares.
This is the first time he lists a whiner who loves to complain … but who already finds more anger than him in the person of Carlos Tavares. Chief Stellantis never keeps his tongue in his pocket and always takes advantage of the interview to give clear opinions, with candor referring to senior bosses.
Favorite criticism of Carlos Tavares: forced march of the European market towards electrification. He is regularly annoyed by a purely political decision, which is imposed on manufacturers and customers, and dogmatically adopts it in response to Volkswagen’s “dieseljet”. Early in 2017, the man at the helm of the PSA pulled off a brilliant exit by warning these policymakers: There’s no question to make scared virgins if we find out in a few decades that the carbon footprint of the 100% electricity market is no good of it.
Since then, if the core of the discourse around the electric hypothesis has not entirely changed, the arguments have evolved. Purchasing power has taken over the 2022 classic, as the electric car is still very expensive. Their prices have increased in recent months, due to rising material costs (especially for batteries), and rising energy and transportation prices.
According to Carlos Tavares, the electric car cannot be bought by less affluent families. But what will they buy if we impose electricity with concessions? This leads to a new offensive line, the vintage line of 2023. These political decisions and the industrial positioning of European brands have opened a street for Chinese brands in the European market.
Partially created problem
After failed attempts to turn around the first decade of the 21st century, Chinese companies are already taking advantage of the electrification of the European market to launch themselves here at exorbitant prices. In an interview a few days ago with the German media Automobile Woche, Carlos Tavares points out ” IThe price difference between European and Chinese cars is huge. He said about 40%. “Unless the current situation changes, European mid-range customers will increasingly turn to Chinese models.”
Already in October, at Le Parisien, he announced it with this massive arrival of Chinese brands Europe is now under great pressure. We should not be surprised, in the coming years, if European manufacturers continue to cut their costs dramatically.”
These interviews seem useful for clearing customs in advance if the Stellants come one day to experience the slack, “I warned you, huh.” It is clear that if things go wrong for the French and European factories, it will be the fault of European politicians and Chinese manufacturers, or even China, because Carlos Tavares suspects that the Chinese auto industry is supported to conquer Europe better. It is true that the French state never provided PSA financial assistance to avoid its bankruptcy …
If Carlos Tavares’ media outings seemed interesting at first, the complainant has ended up being bored. Because the man has participated in creating the situation he criticizes. Having quickly reached the head of the PSA, he applied the strategy of profitability rather than volume. As a result, by betting on premiums, pushing public companies like Peugeot and raising prices to generate profits, Carlos Tavares has helped create this hole in the European car market as it engulfs Chinese brands.
Carlos Tavares also has good cards on hand, but does he watch his game well before going to complain to the media? In its huge portfolio of brands, Stellantis has two entry-level brands: Citroën and Fiat. We’ll put aside the Fiat issue, the stellants galaxy was finally founded only two years ago and so Carlos Tavares had no influence on what constitutes the current range. But Citroen? Isn’t this the perfect grassroots brand that would hold its own against Chinese firms with a range of “basic” products sold at a fair price?
Carlos Tavares has been heading the company to the rafters for nearly ten years. And there were years when I struggled to find a position, or rather to take the position that it should be today. However, a few years ago it was already said that Carlos Tavares wanted to make Citroën a more accessible brand, but he would have faced reluctance on the part of the brand’s management.
Ten years lost
Awareness has begun, however, because a return to basics is the path that Citroën will take as its concept car that Ole announced in September 2022. This heralds a new generation of “anti-plus” electric Citroëns. One ad even put the Oli in the company of a 2CV, as if it were the modern heiress of the 21st century.
So Citroën is preparing its spring response for the Dacia and MG4. But now, what a waste of time! Citroën’s primary promise, it was indeed fulfilled with the Cactus style study in … 2007. Then the production version was lost with a complex marketing concept and not well-placed prices.
Certainly, one can speak of a friend. But it remains a specialized machine, limited to 45 km/h and 50 km/h. Once again, the complainant cannot help but see that Citroën has not reached the end of the process. You really need a more versatile version of the Ami, with 80 km / h and 100 km of autonomy, as in the Mobilize Duo. With, Citroën had really shaken up the small car market.
By playing more of his role as boss, Carlos Tavares managed to salvage the brand’s years. When he got to the head of the PSA, he didn’t want to do a low cost. But he clearly missed the need to innovate the new 2CV, an electric 2CV, with a more aggressive price tag and attractive running cost. And he didn’t need Chinese competition for that, you just had to look at Citroen’s history … or even look at his career. Anyone obsessed with the profitability of a model knows that Dacia brings in plenty of money despite its low prices: Before becoming the big boss of Stellantis, Tavares was Renault’s No. 2, so he knows the ingredients for Dacia’s recipe for success.
A symbol of Citroën’s mistakes, the latter has been overtaken in the French market by the Romanian, also the champion of sales on the private channel, and the most profitable!
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