French PSA Group to open multi-brand showroom in central Turkey's Konya

The French PSA Group, which inaugurated its first multi-brand showroom comprising of Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and DS brands in late January, will be opening its second dealership with the same concept in Turkey's central province of Konya. Peugeot Turkey General Manager İbrahim Anaç said they will implement the multi-brand strategy in more than half of the country, according to a report in the Hürriyet.

Having increased the number of brands in its network to four with its Open acquisition, the PSA Group has undertaken a multi-branded network in Europe this year. The French manufacturer, which opened its first multi-branded showroom concept in Madrid in late January, is projecting to make at least 80 percent of its showrooms in Europe multi-branded by the end of 2021.

The PSA Group has recently initiated the same strategy in Turkey. Having incorporated Citroen on March 1 following Peugeot, DS, and Opel, Groupe PSA Turkey will put three or four brands on sale in its dealerships depending on the city.

Speaking at the launch of the new Rifter in Gaziantep, Anaç said they will sell multiple brands in Turkey as in Europe, informing that apart from his role in Peugeot, he also manages Groupe PSA Turkey's dealership configuration. "We have accelerated our work in this regard. We review the dealerships in the provinces and continue our way with the strong ones by eliminating the weak links," he noted, adding strong dealers will sell Peugeot, Opel, and Citroen and put DS on sale upon demand in their provinces.

"We have come a long way," he continued. "The first location of multi-brand sales will be Konya with Peugeot, Opel, Citroen and DS. This showroom will be the second multi-branded retailer of the PSA Group after Madrid. In fact, we could have been the first, but we could not finish it on time following some procedures. We will implement the multi-brand strategy in more than half of the country. The current system will continue where each brand is separately successful. But we will proceed with strong dealers in weak points."

While the projections of the sector representatives in the automotive market in 2019 range between 250,000 and 400,000 units, the most optimistic estimate belongs to Anaç with 520,000 units. Anaç, who believes the necessary resources for the economy will be found after the local elections, set to be held on March 31, stressed that they are cautious all the same, adding they have a flexible structure for vehicle supply.

"With an optimistic guess, we have a sales target of 26,000 units by the end of the year. But this figure can drop back to 20,000 or rise up to 28,000. We aim for a market share of 5 percent depending on the market," he concluded.