“I think that is where (to smaller cities) the mass market of the car is going… That’s what we predict,” Shailesh Hazela, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), Stellantis India, told Business Standard in an interview. Stellantis’s other brand, Jeep, would remain more focused on Tier-I and -II cities and metros, he added.
Citroën’s strategy will be backed by a retail network tailored to the potential of individual markets, rather than a uniform dealership model across the country. Stellantis currently has close to 300 touchpoints in India, including around 175 for Citroën, but Hazela said the company was more focused on reaching customers than simply increasing the number of outlets.
Under the model, Stellantis could start with a small showroom to test demand before investing in a larger facility. A market with a population of 100,000, for example, may not need a conventional six-car showroom. The company could instead deploy a one-car showroom and a smaller service facility, with the format changing according to sales potential and the local vehicle population.
The company has currently reached around 60 per cent of its addressable customer population through its network and wants to take this to 75 per cent, he noted.
The smaller city push comes when Citroën’s volume sales are expected to grow at least 15-20 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the second half of the current financial year (FY27). This would be lower than approximately 60 per cent Y-o-Y growth it recorded in the year-to-date period because of the high base effect. In September 2025, the Indian government significantly reduced goods and services tax (GST) rates on automobiles, which increased their sales dramatically in the second half of last financial year. Hazela said Citroën’s sales have seen healthy growth till now in FY27, due to the product upgrades introduced last year.
However, Stellantis’s other brand Jeep is not performing that well. Therefore, Jeep was preparing for a product-led revival after what Hazela described as a period of limited activity. The brand’s existing products are towards the end of their lifecycle, he said, while its next phase is being developed under the Jeep 2.0 strategy announced earlier this year. Stellantis has around 90,000 existing Jeep customers in India who are waiting for the next generation of products, he said.
Stellantis’s wholesales — which is combined volume sales of Citroën and Jeep — in the April-July period stood at 2,920 units, a 64.4 per cent Y-o-Y growth, according to data from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).
Hazela was also bullish on the broader Indian passenger vehicle market. He expected the industry to continue growing through 2030, helped by rising disposable income, better road infrastructure and easier access to financing. For the second half of the financial year, he expects the overall automobile industry to grow 5-7 per cent Y-o-Y, although the pace will vary across vehicle segments.
Stellantis is also preparing to increase exports of Citroën vehicles from India substantially. Hazela said the company has exported around 4,500 vehicles so far this year and plans to expand into several additional overseas markets. It currently exports to markets such as South Africa and Indonesia.
The company was using India as the starting point for products that can subsequently be sold in other markets. Hazela said Stellantis’ India operations are supported by five areas: engineering, software, manufacturing, suppliers and information and communications technology. Its localisation in India is above 90 per cent.
helping the company use its domestic supply base for exports.
The West Asia conflict — which began in February when the US and Israel attacked Iran — has not materially disrupted Stellantis India’s production, Hazela said, because of its high level of local sourcing. The company also managed export logistics by rerouting shipments through its global logistics team based in India. The conflict did, however, affect commodity costs and disrupted one shipping channel for a few days.
Stellantis was also preparing for tighter vehicle regulations in India, including the next phase of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules. CAFE measures the average fuel efficiency and emissions performance of an automaker’s vehicle fleet. Hazela said the technology needed to meet tighter rules is not the main challenge for a global company like Stellantis.
The bigger issue, he said, will be keeping vehicles affordable as regulatory requirements add to manufacturing costs. He pointed to instances where new regulations have increased vehicle prices by ~1 lakh-2 lakh and said customers may not accept such increases if they do not see a clear benefit.
