Despite growing demand for SUVs around the world, Peugeot’s CEO Maxime Picat says the trend will not last forever. As reported by Autocar UK, the French car maker is already looking for the “next frontier.”
“We are trying to work on that question, and we have some interesting ideas that we can implement while the SUV boom is strong,” Picat said. “We see a significant number of customers who know they don’t want an SUV but who also see saloons and hatches as boring — they want something else, something more beautiful. I am not going to give you the answer today, but it is an area we are exploring with some energy.”
It’s no secret that Peugeot itself is developing two next-gen SUVs of its own, the 3008 and the 5008. However, the CEO believes that the body type isn’t the most efficient of its kind, lacking the potential for diversification of a model’s silhouette. “There are limits of the body style. I can’t see coupe and convertible versions selling in the way they do on saloons. That is why we think the SUV boom will change faster than that of the booms we have seen in the past.”
Picat admitted that while car makers, his own included, rush towards developing new SUVs for the market, the SUV era may not be a long one. The publication noted that SUVs and crossovers accounted for up to 23% of all European car sales in 2015 and up to 35% of all sales in the US. By 2020, analysts claim that SUVs could account for up to 50% of all car sales around the world.
GALLERY: Peugeot 3008 spyshots
GALLERY: Peugeot 5008 spyshots
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how about getting your products better reliability so they can stop piling up at junkyards..
Since when does Peugeot hold the barometer for global car trends?
IMHO, SuV boom is caused by bad road conditions rather than offroad necessities.
It’s more like a chicken or egg situation, if road condition can be maintained people who love to drive will always prefer something lower and more stable (No matter how you engineer a SUV, there’s an limit. )
but if next few decades our beloved mother earth hasn’t cure it’s illness and gone eau rouge, sorry man.
SUV probably is the only thing you could drive as a transportation
that is your humble opinion, but at international level it is more on offroad and versatility.
I still remember early 90s there are future projection that car will be wider, telephone becomes smaller and handy. Looks like the foresee is correct.
Telephone (or handphone) becomes bigger man. Most smartphone is bigger than Nokia 3310, not to say Nokia 8250.
yes, fosil fuel suv’s will decline and overtaken by electric suv’s u moron..
how the hell did he become the CEO??
Fix you damn car quality and after sales services la u moron..
my only question is with all different body types of cars around in the world today, there’s almost impossible to create something that hasn’t been created in the first place already. unless they can create a car that flies lah. if they create anything in between, that will be called crossovers, and they exist in the market already, and they are one type of SUVs as well.
maybe french does think differently than others.
Yes it will not last long. From SUV, people will hunger for something bigger and bigger and eventually ended up with a….. bus (no complaint on no of seats… massive cargo area… comes with toilet as option).