Industry News: PSA Peugeot Citroën Could Be Making A Return To The U.S.

[William Maley]

It was only a few years ago that French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën was on life support due to massive losses and poor sales. But thanks to an infusion of cash from Chinese automaker Dongfeng and the French government, the company was able to right the ship. The past couple of years has seen PSA Peugeot Citroën emerge as a healthy and profitable automaker. Now the company is looking at expanding into new markets, including the U.S.

 

According to Automobilwoche, officials at PSA say the U.S. and Iran are under consideration as the first markets for expansion.

 

"Our Back in the Race restructuring program has been successfully completed. Now comes the next step. And this has put the issue of the U.S. on the table," said DS brand chief Yves Bonnefont.

 

As we reported back in 2014 and last year, PSA Peugeot Citroën has been considering sending the DS brand into U.S. to test the waters.

 

It is a "natural candidate" for PSA in North America, Bonnefont said.

 

Citroen spun off DS into its own brand last year and its aimed to take on the likes of Audi and Mercedes. The plan is to have six models by the end of this decade ranging from the DS3 (Mini Cooper competitor) to a possible flagship sedan.

 

But Richard Lucki says there are a number of problems the company would need to solve before entering the U.S. Lucki should know as he managed PSA Peugeot Citroën's affairs in the U.S. until 2013 when the company closed their office in Detroit. He explained PSA's return would be difficult as the company doesn't have a dealer network or a manufacturing base.

 

"Pricing is an issue. Everyone else -- Audi, BMW, Mercedes -- has manufacturing here," Lucki said.

 

We'll find what PSA's plans are on April 5th.

 

Source: Automobilwoche via Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[Drew Dowdell]

I'm not sure about the DS as its own brand, but as cars, they are really nice.   Just call them Citroen DS## here in the states.

[G. David Felt]

Can the US market support another auto brand here? I have seen more and more analyst reports that there are far too many auto brands in the world and for those that have been invested in and are struggling to survive, they see the US as the black money bag to wealth. 

 

Bigger question, is what does their auto's bring to the table that would be a game changer over existing auto's already here?

 

Yes some will like the French auto design language, but not all and as we have already seen, US spec auto's fail in Europe so I do not think the DS as is would make it here. On top of this memory of Peugeot is they are no different than Fiat, crappy auto's, terrible quality and reliability.

 

Perception, this is going to be hard to change

[Drew Dowdell]

This is Citroën's attempt to survive.  They need to re-enter new markets.  Renault gets it's economies of scale in the US through Nissan.

[G. David Felt]

This is Citroën's attempt to survive.  They need to re-enter new markets.  Renault gets it's economies of scale in the US through Nissan.

So question then if this is about Citroën's attempt to survive, what do they have to really offer the public that is different than everyone else? Style is Dead on Delivery for me. Interior flow is the same Dead for me. I do not see or read anything that would inspire they are bleeding edge technology above everyone else. 

 

So if this is for them to survive, then what are they really offering that is different other than style?

[Drew Dowdell]

 

This is Citroën's attempt to survive.  They need to re-enter new markets.  Renault gets it's economies of scale in the US through Nissan.

So question then if this is about Citroën's attempt to survive, what do they have to really offer the public that is different than everyone else? Style is Dead on Delivery for me. Interior flow is the same Dead for me. I do not see or read anything that would inspire they are bleeding edge technology above everyone else. 

 

So if this is for them to survive, then what are they really offering that is different other than style?

 

 

What is anyone offering different other than style?  Even a Corolla at 7/10ths is more performance than most people can handle these days.