Peugeot hopes to boost its car sales 84% to 30,000 units in Mexico by the end of 2007, aided by new launches and the upcoming removal of Mexican import restructions, a company spokeswoman told just-auto.
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Peugeot intends to sell up to 18,500 cars this year, up from 16,308 in 2004, she said. The company expects its newly-arrived 407 luxury sedan and strong sales of its 206 line-up to prop up sales throughout the period.
Plans to open three new dealerships and the possibility of launching the 207 model in the medium term should also help boost revenues, she noted.
However, the Mexican government’s plan to eliminate car import tariffs in early 2007 will be Peugeot’s key growth driver.
An automotive bilateral trade agreement was signed by the Brazilian and Mexican governments in July. Prior to the agreement, Mexican law prohibited the importation of vehicles by automakers without factories in the country. But the agreement cancelled that law.
The bilateral agreement also established a total first year’s quota of 140,000 vehicles that was levied an import tariff of 1.1% (the previous tariff was 23%), dropping to zero in the following years.
The quota was be increased to 165,000, rising to 185,000 and 210,000 vehicles per year in the initial years.
“Right now we are very small in Mexico but once [the tariffs] are lifted we will be able to increase our import volumes and sales, which will enable us to meet our objectives,” the Peugeot spokeswoman said.
Peugeot’s market share in Mexico, Latin America’s second-biggest car market after Brazil, is less than 1%.
The company has no immediate plans to build a factory there because its manufacturing sites in Brazil and Argentina produce sufficient volume to meet current demand, the spokeswoman added.
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