New Citroen Distributor For Australia

Sime Darby Motors Group has been appointed the new importer of the Citroen brand in Australia, effective February 1.

The Citroen brand will join Peugeot Automobiles Australia and Corefleet under the Sime Darby Motors Group umbrella and complement its recent foray into the Porsche Centre Parramatta retail operation.

 “We are excited to welcome the Citroen brand to the Sime Darby family,” said SDMG Managing Director, Rob Dommerson. “The brand has great heritage around the world and, given the connection of Citroen and Peugeot globally, it made sense to bring the two brands together here in Australia under one distributor.”

 While the two brands will operate under the one roof it will only be the back end functions that will be shared. Citroen will have its own sales and marketing teams.

Automotive industry veteran, John Startari, will take on the role as General Manager of Citroen Automobiles Australia operations within Australia effective immediately. Startari has been in the industry for 28 years and boasts retail experience with GM Holden, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Peugeot and then with Proton and Lotus covering technical homologation, aftersales and sales. Startari’s most recent role was Managing Director of Malaysian car maker, Proton.

 Citroen will start operation with 20 dealers across the country and is currently in negotiations to build the network.