French brands disappearing and reappearing in AU
French brands have come and gone in AU too, except for Peugeot who have never left. Currently Peugeot are the most popular French car by a large margin, Citroen have surged ahead due to strong support for the model by the importers, and Renault are in a desperately poor position. They are still sold here after reappearing on the AU market in 2001, but sales slumped due to very poor support of the market by Renault. The cars are good, fantastic to drive, but there is a very small model range, dwindling each year, as Renault in France seem reluctant to build small quantities of cars to suit Australia's unique design rules, and we only tend to get new Renault models when they have been on sale overseas for a few years.
Renault were popular here in the seventies when they were assembled in Melbourne, mainly from French parts with some local content. Interestingly, they also assembled their arch-rival, Peugeot. So in AU only, there were joint Renault-Peugeot dealers. In the seventies Government policy changed, the idea was to force companies who assembled cars from imported components to change to full manufacture. (Renault, VW). This was done by legislating a 75% minimum local content, otherwise a hefty extra tax was added. Of course it had the opposite effect - small volume assemblers who couldn't justify the cost of setting up a full manufacturing plant, closed their assembly operations and became importers, costing hundreds of Aussie jobs. Their cars were then heavily taxed which meant they had to try to move upmarket to justify their higher price. Aussie buyers didn't go for it, and by 1982 Renault and VW had quit the Aussie market. Renault were handled by an importer in 1985 for a couple of years, but only one model, the Fuego, then disappeared again. Renault came back in the late 80s with the 19, imported by Volvo dealers. Renault and Volvo split after a few years and Renault disappeared again. They reappeared in 2001 with much fanfare but have dwindled each year since, though they seem to be trying harder this year and are improving again.
Citroen were only assembled here in the early 60s, by the 70s they were a very low volume import operation, only a few hundred cars a year. I'm not sure of the years but they came and went a few times through the 80s and 90s, but their volumes were so low nobody really noticed. They reapppeared in about 2002 or 2003, impported by a reasonably large Aussie company who also import Fiat, Alfa-Romeo and Kia. They have gone from strength to strength, though they are still a small player - Citroen will always be held back by their reputation for complicated funny French cars. I loved them when they made those cars, but they never made any money and Peugeot saved the brand from extinction, though Citroens are now basically Peugeots with a bit more flair. At least the larger Citroens, C5 and C6, still have the famous Citroen hydropneumatic suspension.
Peugeot have been sold here continuously for over 50 years, and have reaped the rewards from their loyalty to the AU market. They are still low volume compared to Ford or Gm but are one of the biggest European brands here - they used to be the highest but now overtaken by VW who are booming.
Chris
