Enda O'Connor, MD of the Citroen Centre, Finglas, with customer services director Joe Duffy, financial director Karen Murphy, and sales director Bernard Byrne

2 May 2001: The opening of The Citroën Centre in Finglas, Dublin, heralds a new generation of Citroën dealerships in Ireland. The Centre, which is leased by Enda O’Connor, has been designed from the ground up with one agenda in mind: to revolutionise the vehicle purchasing and repair experience for the customer.

“This dealership has the largest floor space in the country and would equal the modern facilities in France, and right across Europe,” Enda O’Connor said during the Irish launch of the new Citroën C5 at the showrooms.

The main feature of the new style dealership is that service facilities are visible and ‘up front’, with customer access from the front. Huge glass partitions allow waiting customers to monitor the progress of their vehicle’s servicing.

James Wyse, managing director of Citroen franchisees Gallic Distributors Ltd, said this transparent concept will be introduced to all Citroën dealers, over time, in Ireland.

National Services Manager Arthur Smith said the Finglas centre symbolises the way in the future that Citroën wants to look after their customers - with both the showroom and workshop on equal footing. He said any faults are brought to the customer’s attention within five minutes and the customer can there and then decide what work he or she wants done.

“The process provides total transparency in terms of cost and repair content. It’s very important for us that there is no sense of hard sell on this,” he added.

On buying a new Citroen, each customer is assigned an Aftersales Advisor to provide them with guidance and advice through any future visits to the dealership. Customers are encouraged to take advantage of this offer, which gives them dedicated time on each visit, during which they can get their vehicles inspected and receive information on current and future maintenance and repair requirements.

In addition, the opening of The Citroën Centre in Finglas marks the launch of the brand’s Express Service in Ireland. This offers customers a fast, immediate, personalised service for supply and fitting of tyres, exhausts, brakes, oil changes and vehicle accessories.

For convenience, the Express Service bays are open six days a week. No appointment is necessary. This means customers can simply drive off the North Road, check the fixed prices on display, and get the work carried out while they wait. The service is open to all customers, whether or not they drive a Citroën vehicle.