Citroën is following in the steps of Mitsubishi by selling its vehicles at the British Motor Show.

Staff from its London-based dealerships will man its stand, and C4, Xsara Picasso plus the C2 and C3 Stop & Start cars will be available for test-drives outside. A chauffeur-driven C6 will also be available to demonstrate its executive-sector comfort.

“We’ll be using the Motor Show to actively sell our products and use the opportunities present to convert customers into buying a Citroën at the earliest possible opportunity,” says Marc Raven, its spokesman.

The staff will undergo special training on the day-to-day running of the stand and how to take a prospect enquiry from customers.

“What happens after the initial enquiry is dependent on where the customer is from,” says Raven. “They can do a test drive there or we can fax their details to their local dealer, where they’ll be treated as a hot sales prospect.

“We’re hoping to make this part as seamless and easy as possible,” he adds.

Citroën is expecting to generate thousands of leads from this venture, which has previously been tried at the Scottish Motor Show in Glasgow. The C-AirPlay and C-Buggy concept cars will also be on show, both making their UK debut.

AM reported in March that Mitsubishi will have staff from its dealer network manning its stand at the motor show and will hope to close deals with customers.

Over several months, Citroën has been running a small series of family events for business user-choosers. Anyone over the age of 12 was able to take driving lessons or test drive Citroën vehicles on a circuit.

The third event, at Prodrive, attracted 850 people.