Given Citroen isn't a brand that's active in the States, it's understandable why many likely aren't totally aware about how it conducts its showroom floor sales business. Our readers overseas (and primarily, for this point at least, those from the UK) will probably know of Citroen's association with decent value and its acceptance of price haggling. That association with affordable costs, though, could - according to Auto Express - soon be transformed in an interesting new way by next year.

Speaking to the British weekly motoring magazine, Citroen CEO Linda Jackson confirmed an 'E-Commerce' service is set to be rolled out in "selected markets," with plans of introducing it to the UK "hopefully next year." But what is E-Commerce, you ask? Simple: it's essentially a means for Citroen customers to buy a car without ever having to set foot in a dealership. From specification configuration and sorting out the deposits to even customizing the monthly payment options, the whole E-Commerce system is set up in such a way that, theoretically, the only time customers will need to visit a Citroen showroom will be to pick up their new car.

Further setting this initiative apart is the proposed fixed pricing setup that, though removing the ability to haggle, is claimed by Jackson to allow customers to "pay the same price [they] could have got at a dealer." To our knowledge, no other car maker offers anything like this in the new car market, so the potential impact the E-Commerce system could have is huge if customers are willing to use it and (perhaps more importantly) the dealerships are willing to incorporate it into their business models. Keep your eyes peeled on E-Commerce, everyone: Citroen could be on to a real game changer with it.