‘You need to provide the customer with choice’ for future mobility, says Citroen boss

Car manufacturers ‘need to provide the customer with choice’ in order to succeed in future mobility.

That’s according to Citroen UK’s managing director, Greg Taylor, who expressed his thoughts and views on what needs to be done for car manufacturers to progress towards the electrified era of motoring.

Citroen now offers an electric and hybrid powertrain on every model of its vehicles, which gives greater choice to buyers.

Currently, the British government has got a target set to ban the sale of new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035, with battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles only allowed to be sold beyond that date.

Speaking at the Citroen C5 and e-C5 Aircross international media launch, Taylor told the PA News Agency: “The easiest thing for manufacturers to consider three and four years ago was to make grand standing statements to go all-electric and move away from internal-combustion engined vehicles, but we didn’t do that. There’s a glide path to electrification and things ultimately change and now what we’re seeing is an acceleration from manufacturers that made those statements, are now changing their product and powertrain plans.”

He added: “You need to provide the customer with choice, you don’t need everybody to be driving electric today, and you’re not going to get everybody driving electric. A total of 40 per cent of UK households don’t have access to a driveway; that is the easiest way to charge an EV. If you don’t have that, you might not be ready. Everything happens over time, and that’s why I think we’ve got the powertrain mix right.”

The new Citroen C5 and e-C5 Aircross will be available with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric powertrains, with prices starting at £30,495.