Industry News: PSA Peugeot Citroën Announces A Return to the U.S.

[William Maley]

It has been hinted at and rumored for a few years. But today, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced they would be making a return to the U.S.

 

During a presentation for analysts and investors at PSA's headquarters in Paris, CEO Carlos Tavares unveiled a ten-year plan that could result in the launch of Citroën, DS, and Peugeot vehicles to the U.S. The plan would be split up into three steps.

• Step one: Enter the U.S. as a mobility operator from 2017, possibly with Bollore,” said Tavares. Bollore is a French company that builds batteries and compact EVs that are mainly used by a French car-sharing service, Autolib. Citroën and Bollore are currently working together to bring a concept EV into production.
• Step two: Start up a car-sharing program (i.e. Zipcar, GM's Maven) that would be owned and operated by PSA.
• Step three: If the first two steps are successful, PSA could return “to sell cars in the U.S. supported by regional sourcing when appropriate,” Tavares said.
  

Tavares says PSA has formed a team to study the U.S. market, what customers like and dislike; and the regulatory requirements.

 

As Automotive News notes, this is wildly different than the plan provided by Yves Bonnefont, CEO of DS back in 2014. Bonnefont explained the strategy was to sell DS vehicles in 200 large cities around the world after 2020 - including the U.S.

 

“We want to make DS a global premium brand, and you cannot be global without the U.S.,” said Bonnefont.

 

Why ten years? A possible reason may come down to PSA Peugeot Citroën not having any presence in the U.S. As we noted in our report last month, PSA doesn't have any connections to dealers or manufacturers. Also, PSA closed down their U.S. office in 2013 as a way to cut costs.

 

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[regfootball]

yeah i don't think there is any pent up demand for PSA.  I do like some of their vehicles but honestly we need to lose brands not add them

[G. David Felt]

that is what PSA has to offer in auto style. The French know nothing of auto style and nothing that company builds offers anything the US would want. Plus they screwed over auto owners the last time they were in the US.

 

Best to let the company die and be a history note in a book. The US and world still has way too many auto companies and a consolidation is still needed.

[G. David Felt]

Thinking more on this, I suspect with all the China auto companies we will see a boom of companies and then a death of a ton as the industry consolidates to the biggest most solid ones.

[Suaviloquent]

They don't really have a credible go to market plan.

 

I think this would work much better of PSA and Fiat had an agreement - perhaps to have the those cars re-badged as Dodges and Chryslers.

 

And even that is a pretty dumb strategy - as those same FCA products aren't doing so swell.

 

So if they bring small compact cars - the Japanese and Korean brands have much higher perceived value there.

 

There's not much here for PSA.

 

Why are they doing this?!

[aurora97]

My dad had a 1983 505 turbo diesel. What a POS. I saw the significant improvements that Peugeot made in the late '90s.

This move might also be part of the ongoing agreement between the US and EU to standardize emissions and crash ratings for both continents. If PSA thinks they have what it takes, then let's see what they got.

[daves87rs]

Not sure how well they will do....just too many companies now...