Although Citroën is not going to produce a separate product for each country and may not implement every recommendation, it takes on board the feedback and it becomes part of a learning process.

King says the demand profile for buyers is changing towards a wholelife cost approach as drivers and fleet managers look to reduce overheads.

“Wholelife cost models not only have a relevance to fleet, but to the retail market now as well,” he says.

“People make better decisions if they have more information and there is more of a market awareness and focus for this now.

“Desirability is still important, but there is less money around so people rely more on the facts to make decisions.”

Tax changes to affect car choice

King believes forthcoming tax changes to lease rental thresholds may catch one or two manufacturers out as the number of models made available to company car drivers may reduce as a result.

His aspiration for Citroën is to get the brand in front of more people and on fleet choice lists.

That comes down to not only having the right product with good costing and strong residual values, but getting the messages out to the right people at the right time, so people know about it.

“It’s all about appeal, and that appeal is very different in every demographic, age group and market,” says King.

“There is a sweet spot when someone will create a vehicle that looks great, with good specification, the price is right, the CO2 works and you don’t build too many.”