Currently reading: New Citroen boss lays out her battle plan
The French firm's new chief executive officer, Linda Jackson, believes her experience of running Citroen UK will give her a head start in her new role

Incoming Citroën boss Linda Jackson plans to use the experience of her successful tenure leading Citroën’s UK operations to grow the brand internationally and return it to profit.

Jackson will take over from Frederic Banzet on June 1 and is tasked with implementing the ‘Back in the Race’ turnaround plan, the brainchild of new PSA Peugeot-Citroën boss Carlos Tavares.

Speaking to Autocar at the inaugural Autocar Stars event in London last week, Jackson believes it was her track record of success for Citroën in the UK and 35 years of experience in the automotive industry working for several different brands that landed her the top job in Paris.

Citroën UK and Ireland boss since 2010, Jackson said her plan was to build the brand, improve customer satisfaction and boost dealer profitability.

“We need make money and be profitable, so we moved away from the discounting and worked on improving residual values,” she said.

Jackson worked closely with dealers to eradicate Citroën's discounting culture and moved away from unprofitable fleet deals, instead focusing on selling models to private customers on more profitable finance deals.

Citroën’s UK sales were up six per cent last year to 78,358 units, the latest in a series of rises since Jackson took over. The profitable DS3 in particular is a big seller for the brand.

This success has been noted by Tavares, who has now appointed her to the top job in Paris. Jackson describes Tavares’ Back in the Race’ plan as “incredibly detailed” and her job will be to “define the plan and align it to strategy”.

She will oversee the imminent launch of Citroën’s innovative new C4 Cactus model and the new C1, models she describes as “the definition of what Citroën wants to be”. 

“Citroëns are about creative design and innovative, useful technology, and being comfortable,” she said. “It is in our DNA to innovate.

“Citroëns are also affordable for mainstream customers,” she added, stating that the firm would explore new sales schemes such as “pay as you drive or pay as you go” to allow a buyer to “best utilise their budget”.

Jackson has previously worked in Paris and believes that having her “Anglo Saxon, British way of doing things will be a good thing in a diverse French company”. 

Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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k12479 12 May 2014

I think there's more to this,

I think there's more to this, frequently when a native is replaced by a non-native it's for a particular purpose and for a limited time - i.e. to cut jobs and shut plants. Long overdue in the French industry.
Flatus senex 13 May 2014

Any direct personal experience?

If you have, then I can accept your point of view. If not, then this comes under the heading of "received opinion". There is a plethora of such about!
sirwiggum 12 May 2014

Sadly the average person is

Sadly the average person is scared of the hydropneumatic system, thinking it is complex (which it is, but then most modern suspension systems are!), unreliable (my Xantia never had an issue), dangerous when failed (the Xantia was the last Citroen to have all hydraulics driven from the hydropneumatic system, even it had a reserve if the suspension failed you still had brakes), and difficult to service (I renewed mine as easily as 4 oil filters - not something you could say about renewing springs!).

Sadly I didn't take to the mk1 C5 and haven't had a Citroen since. Most of the new C5s to fleets etc. use springs, and the DS5 has ridiculously German stiff suspension.

Unfortunately, as the C6 shows, proper big Citroens just don't sell.

Phinehas 12 May 2014

And Being Comfortable

“Citroëns are about creative design and innovative, useful technology, and being comfortable,” she said.

And Being Comfortable.

That's not 'and being comfortable relative to Teutonic granite', it's an absolute and it should surpass anything else on the road. It's not an afterthought, it's why a lot of people bought them in the first place. I wonder when she last rode in a DS23.