CITROËN INVENTS THE MODERN CAR DEALERSHIP
With the main roads in most Australian towns and cities lined with impressive car dealerships, bringing together all the facets of the car business, from new cars sales to servicing via parts and accessories, all under the roof of architect designed buildings honed to present the image of each car brand, it is easy to think that these triumphs of retail business are a modern invention.
But today’s car dealership as we know it first saw the light of day more than 70 years ago when Andre Citroën opened his all-new Citroën dealership in the French provincial city of Lyon way back in 1932.
The Citroën complex in Lyon brought together everything that we would recognize as a modern dealership and is now recognized as the blue print for modern car dealerships.
Even its opening is something that today’s car dealers would recognize: Andre Citroën revealed his new models for 1932, the Citroën 8, the Citroën 10 and the Citroën 15CV, at the Paris Motor Show and then he put 360 Citroën dealers from around Europe on a private train for Lyon.
“You are about to visit the new Citroën premises that I have built in Lyons to house all the sales, repair and maintenance departments,” Andre Citroën told his representatives as they left Paris. “It is the world’s largest and most modern. All the aspects of the design and production are focused on a single aim: To serve the customer.”
Remember, this remarkably prescient statement was made more than 70 years ago, long before today’s marketing driven cars sales programmes, but it fitted in perfectly with Andre Citroën’s reputation for marketing and advertising that was industry leading, from lighting up the Eiffel Tower with the Citroën name, to his avant-garde print advertising and his sponsorship of motoring expeditions to China and Africa.
So how did this advanced dealership set the stage for today’s automotive retail outlets?
Today it is common for car brands to have a single style of dealership building that is used throughout the world and which promotes the image of the brand. Back in 1932 Andre Citroën hired the renowned architect Maurice-Jacques Ravaze to design a building, with its Art Deco style that was, in the 1930s, as cutting edge as the technology in Citroën’s cars and which would represent everything the Citroën name, or brand as we would call it today, stood for.
The building took 200 people nearly two years to complete, using the latest steel and concrete construction methods with 8,000 cubic metres of cement, 1,500 tonnes of steel and 6,000 square metes of glass.
Inside was everything that we would recognize today as a modern car dealership. At the front was a 1,500 square metre new car showroom, with reception areas for sales, business and service customers.There was a special wash bay so that customer’s cars could be cleaned while they visited the dealership. On the first floor there was another similarly sized showroom for used cars, along with the service workshop which had 130 bays for servicing and preparing cars.
On the third floor was the body repair business and paint shops, along with under cover storage for new cars waiting for delivery to customers. Parts came from a central storage area and were delivered to the workshop and repair bays by a special goods lift system, to speed service and repair work. Management, technical services and accounts were housed in what we would call today an open plan area on a mezzanine floor between the two showrooms.The plans even included a short test track on the roof for cars in the dealership for servicing and tennis courts for the use of customers waiting for service work.
Moe than 70 years down the track, Citroën’s landmark dealership is still at the centre of Citroën’s business in Lyons and it is still driving Citroën sales upwards, 13.5 per cent up in the Lyons area in 2003, well ahead of the national market.
But unlike all its more modern counterparts, this dealership was declared aFrenchNational Monument at the time of its 60th anniversary in 1992 and last year it was the centre piece of European Heritage Day, when important buildings across the continent throw their doors open to the public.
More than 3,000 people took tours of the Lyons Citroën dealership, traveling from all over Europe to see what has become the blueprint for car dealerships in the 21st Century.
(ends)
For further information:
Citroën Australia Media Web Site:
Miles Williams
/ Tel: (02) 9558 7111General Manager / Fax: (02) 9558 7722
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0419 800 520
E-Mail:
Edward Rowe
/ Tel: (02) 9558 7111Public Relations Manager / Fax: (02) 9558 7722
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0407 913 244
E-Mail:
Web site:
EJR/ejr/007
3/30/2004