Reports: PSA to differentiate Peugeot, upscale brand

208 gti

Reports indicate that PSA/Peugeot-Citroen is planning to upscale its Peugeot brand by upgrading its cars to differentiate them from Citroën models. The group is also looking at doubling the brand’s average volume through its alliance with General Motors.

The move upmarket is hoped to assist the brand to return to profit, following the record five billion Euro net loss posted last year when European auto sales collapsed. The group is seeking to raise the number of premium-marketed vehicles from the 18% of its total deliveries last year, the reports said.

The models leading the way are the 208 GTI performance hatch and 2008 compact crossover. PSA added that a very rich range of products and 17 vehicle launches in 2013 would support the positioning of its brands, also stating that Citroën would not become a low-cost brand.

Despite saying that the European auto market was likely to fall a further three to five percent in 2013 and remain depressed “for the foreseeable future,” PSA is aiming to get Peugeot to reach a break-even level by 2014 and return to profitability in 2015, the year the brand is looking at taking 50% of its annual delivery volume outside Europe.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • AVH® on Feb 14, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    Peugeot is a good brand. Unfortunately, in Malaysia, its handled by crony AP king Naza ie Nasim who has no real interest making the brand premium.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 44
    • AVH- if you think you can do better than Naza please bring in the Opel cars and see whether you can do better- or else get out of this site cos we are talking about cars

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • taboogen on Feb 14, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    balik balik crony here crony there… even at their birth land peugeot is struggling to survive… what kind of 60’s comment lah… want to live in developed country work hard….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 30 Thumb down 13
    • AVH® on Feb 14, 2013 at 5:22 pm

      They should just close down. Citroen as well. If Renault can do well, why can’t Peugeot in France also work as hard and make things happen?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 31
      • taboogen on Feb 14, 2013 at 5:38 pm

        thats is why you are not the one managing a company…. closing down a factory will effect the whole eco system (suppliers, vendors etc).. that will make things even worst… btw i am talking here in Malaysia.. unless you are not from here then it is fine..

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 4
        • AVH® on Feb 15, 2013 at 8:58 am

          Then we will have another Perwaja Steel A whit elephant just to support cronies and help lazy people get jobs. We have to be competitive to survive, cannot just eat nasi lemak and sleep in the office.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 8
      • kadajawi on Feb 14, 2013 at 7:23 pm

        Renault has the partnership with Nissan, which allows them to develop together. Basically all cars from the Clio over the Kangoo to many popular Nissan models share the same platform. Helps keeping costs down. PSA is doing the same, but since they shift fewer cars…

        Also Renault has Dacia, which seems to be quite profitable due to the economic downturn. When people don’t have a lot of money dirt cheap and practical cars are popular. (Exactly the right time for Proton to enter the European market again).

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
      • AVH- ..if a company suffers a setback should the company close down? Guna lah otak! When the going gets tough the tough gets going..have your lame brain heard of this line?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • PSA really need to restructure and re-position themselves if they want to survive. Euro crisis is not an excuse performing badly, even their German rivals perform considerably well in the global market.. not to mention, on home ground, Renault is still doing well

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 1
    • kadajawi on Feb 14, 2013 at 7:56 pm

      Renault is also doing well in other countries, such as Germany. IIRC it outsells Toyota 2:1 there. Apart from Skoda the foreign car maker (Opel and Ford are considered German).

      The Dacia brand is what helps them.

      What is weird is the way Renault performs here.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • tokmoh on Feb 14, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    Soon naza will increase price kawkaw like vw did to polo gti.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 16
    • kadajawi on Feb 14, 2013 at 7:58 pm

      The government forced VW to increase the price for the Polo.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5
  • PauKaya on Feb 14, 2013 at 7:36 pm

    peugeot an upscale brand. i wonder what my french friends have to say about this.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 2
  • “when European auto sales collapsed.”

    Peugeot sold around 10% of it’s production to Iran. Since the EU boycott Iran, they sell 0% of their production there. The problems of Peugeot are self-made.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 3
    • Mohd- if EU stops imports to Iran as you stated, it’s not the fault of Peugeot…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • peugeots have never been an upmarket brand, only msians think its premium due to it being a conti. Peogeot car has never been good since the 306..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 7
  • Common la….you people always blame the govt and crony. I know what you guys meant. I read somewhere the founding father of NAZA had started his car business buy selling recond cars from Japan. Then got the Kia distributor ship worked hard to get the korean’s KIA to trust them. It is not as easy as you guys think. Since late father pass away the children had to work extra hard to prove them self. Good education and hard work pays off of course money in the bank also helped. The french PSA put NAZA to test with Peugeot and they pulled it as sales sky rocketed. The french in return gave NAZA the rights to CKD their car to be exported. Peugeot is a good brand and most Malaysian had a good memory on it as one of our relative or you dad used to owned one. NAZA have to improve their Customer service & parts centre. I think it is normal for a new model to have minor glitches be it VW, BMW or Lexus.
    The Government do help others……not only Bumiputra. Please check your facts.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 2
    • If you look at other countries like Japan, Korea or even America do protect their automobile industry. In Korea you can find mostly korean cars on the road. In Japan you also can find mostly Japanese made cars. Protectionism exist every where in the world. ….

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • kadajawi on Feb 15, 2013 at 1:50 pm

        Not in Germany, IIRC. Free market. Of course, why would the Germans need to protect their manufacturers, the only one that isn’t doing so well is Opel.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
        • And Opel isn’t German any more at all. It’s American owned and made in Poland and the UK.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • Nazir on Feb 23, 2013 at 12:11 pm

        Not sure about Japan and America, but Korea, yes. Being there, the Koreans are also complaining about the double standart practiced by Korean’s car company; favouritism over international market rather than Korean’s market. But then again, look at how their cars evolved from being an object of ridicule to an object associated with class.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Joe Satriani on Feb 15, 2013 at 12:29 pm

      Well Said…. the only problem with Nasim was their after sales….

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • jaybond on Feb 15, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    “The move upmarket is hoped to assist the brand to return to profit” – could this mean that future Peugeot cars will have a more premium image and at the same time premium price tag? I think what Peugeot could do is to continue to uplift a bit the quality of their model line-up and at the sametime explore more markets outside Europe.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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