French carmaker Citroen, the newest entrant into the Indian market, claimed to have acquired over 1000 pre-bookings for its first product in India, the C5 Aircross, which it launched on Wednesday at a worth of Rs 29.9 lakh.The French automaker will begin its operations in India with solely 10 showrooms and a web-based gross sales channel earlier than opening extra retailers subsequent 12 months when it launches its second automotive. Automobiles will probably be delivered on to the shoppers’ doorstep from the manufacturing facility when purchased on-line, the corporate mentioned.

“These 10 cities cowl 90% of the C-segment SUV market,” mentioned Roland Bouchara, Senior Vice President, Gross sales & Advertising, Citroën India.

The corporate will launch one mannequin a 12 months for the subsequent 4-5 years. Whereas the C5 Aircross will probably be assembled in India from imported kits, the next fashions can have over 90% native content material and the platforms will even be exported from India. That is a part of the corporate’s C-Dice technique.The corporate mentioned that its first product is supposed to be a flagship to introduce the model to the nation. It has been priced between premium and luxurious segments. Subsequent fashions will probably be extra affordably priced.

Citroen has arrange a plant with an annual manufacturing capability of 100,000 items close to Chennai. The corporate additionally has a plant at Hosur that manufactures 300,000 powertrains a 12 months. These are already being exported to Europe. The corporate’s complete funding in India up to now has been to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore which incorporates plant, equipment, land and product improvement prices.