Simon Monahan, sales director Citroen UK, said: “We have open points in significant territories like Liverpool, Guildford and London.”

He said customers should ideally be within a 20 minute drive of their nearest dealership and would like some existing partners to expand their market areas to work towards this goal. Monahan said PLCs, with their greater investment clout, were likely to be recruited for urban sites whereas small, private capital businesses were more suitable to take on rural open points. Monahan said Citroen was working to improve the quality of its network and emphasised “the strong link between customer satisfaction, market share and profitability and staff retention”. He said the carmaker studies dealers’ management accounts which “show what’s wrong with the business in its sales balance”. For example, where vans are fundamental for business sales dealerships must have an LCV display and an expert on site to maximise sales opportunities. Monahan said internet search engine optimisation was “vital for local dealers” who should ensure they appear in the top three of a Google search for Citroen in their region. “In the last five years the industry has woken up to the importance of customer satisfaction and sales processes,” he said. “We must do it right to succeed in the current market. Tough economic conditions expose weak businesses.” Monahan said Citroen would identify its 50 worst performing sites and focus on getting them to adopt top 50 practices. He admitted Citroen had “become renowned” for its cashback offers but was moving away from its cut price image as it pushed upmarket with products such as the new C5 and C4 Picasso. He claimed the brand had offered no cashback deals since January 2007. Monahan said Citroen had increased dealer bonuses by up to 30 per cent this year and that profitability in the upper quartile of the network had grown from 2.4 per cent of turnover to 2.7 per cent year-on-year.