This is the final feature in a five-part series which examines the current and future models for Groupe PSA’s passenger car brands. The last instalment offers an overview of Peugeot’s future SUVs, monospaces and electric vehicles.
EVs & PHEVs
The iOn is a small plug-in model which sells in very small numbers, mostly in Europe. It is built in Japan by Mitsubishi Motors and, like the Citroen C-Zero, is a lightly altered version of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Production of the cars for Groupe PSA started in October 2010.
Due to slow sales, the Ion is not expected to be directly replaced and build at MMC’s Mizushima plant will likely end by mid-2017.
One segment up, there will be a EV version of the 208, Peugeot’s then CEO Maxim Picat told just-auto.com in May 2016. It is presumed that this will be the next generation model.
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“All C- and D-cars, including SUVs, will have new plug-in hybrid powertrains. It will start with 3008 in 2019. For the smaller cars, like 208 or 2008, we will launch an electric version of them,” Picat stated.
There might also be an EV version of the 301: at the presentation of the DPCA strategic plan on 11 May 2016, Carlos Tavares and Zhu Yanfeng, the respective chairmen of DPCA’s two company shareholders, signed an agreement to design an electric version of the Common Modular Platform (CMP). This future electric platform (e-CMP) will deliver a worldwide offering of all-electric, high-performance B and C segment vehicles for the Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Dongfeng brands from 2019. DS is likely to have the first car for this platform.
Another EV is the Partner Tepee Electric. This plug-in passenger van is about to have its premiere at the Geneva motor show. It goes on sale from September. As the vehicle upon which it is based was first released in 2008, a replacement model may be launched as soon as 2018 or 2019.
In the D segment, Peugeot has had mixed results with electrified models. By introducing the 508 RXH HYbrid4 in 2011, the brand was attempting to see if there might be a market for a plug-in hybrid derivative of its estate-crossover. The car’s high price has put off many would-be buyers and sales have been slow.
A diesel-electric version of the 508 sedan was launched in certain markets during the second quarter of 2012. It used the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine + electric motor powertrain as the DS 5 HYbrid4, Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4, Peugeot 5008 HYbrid4 and Peugeot 508 RXH.
Maxim Picat told reporters at September 2015’s Frankfurt IAA that there would not be direct replacements for the diesel-electric hybrid cars. One reason was the lack of demand for diesel cars in China. Instead, petrol-electric models will be rolled out, with the Instinct concept (see image above) from the 2017 Geneva motor show having such a powertrain.
Crossovers & SUVs
The 2008 is one of Groupe PSA’s best selling vehicles. This small crossover, a derivative of the 208, was launched in Europe from June 2013 after a world premiere at the 2013 Geneva motor show. Rivals include the Renault Captur and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka. The 2008 is front-wheel drive only. It is built in France, Brazil and China and production is about to start in Tehran as part of a new JV between PSA and Iran Khodro.
A mid-life facelift for the 2008 premiered at the Geneva motor show in March 2016. This should be the last update for the crossover before the second generation model appears in 2020. That should be based on the CMP architecture with production at the same plants as the existing model. However, as with other future Groupe PSA vehicles, there may be changes to certain future vehicle programmes should a takeover of Opel/Vauxhall occur.
Peugeot revealed the second generation 3008 to the media in May 2016, ahead of its Paris show debut four months later. At just 4,450mm in length, it is one of the most compact models in its segment but offers greater passenger and luggage space compared to the first generation model, which continues to be built and sold in China.
Despite the improvements in passenger and luggage capacities, the new model is, on average, 100kg lighter than the previous generation versions. This has been achieved via the use of lighter materials. Very High Strength Steel (VHSS) and Ultra High Strength Steel (UHSS) have been used with a thermoplastic boot floor and tailgate plus aluminium wings, front suspension arms and rear seat frames..
A folding scooter with electric assist (e-Kick) by Micro is one option and a folding bike with electric assistance (e-Bike) by Peugeot is another. Docking stations hold the e-Kick or e-Bike in place in the boot and recharge the batteries while the vehicle is running.
Production of the 3008 for European markets takes place at Sochaux in France and the architecture is EMP2.
Peugeot sells the first and second generations of the 3008 in China, so the newer model is called 3008 SUV there. Even more confusingly, another version of the latest 3008 is sold in China as the 4008.
Exclusive to China, the 4008 is the rest of the world’s second generation 3008 with a different body. The 4008 premiered at the Chengdu motor show in September 2016. It went on sale locally immediately after the show. There are three turbocharged petrol engines: 1.2, 1.6 & 1.8. The 4008 is manufactured in Chengdu by Dongfeng Peugeot. It should remain in production there for seven years.
The second generation 5008 has become an SUV, whereas the previous model was a monospace/minivan. PSA, having seen the European people carrier segment shrinking, took the decision to make the second generation 5008 a seven-seater SUV. It is 11cm longer than the first 5008.
The 5008’s architecture would be EMP2, PSA confirmed in November 2013. The company stated at the same time (in a media release) that it would spend 90 million euro at its Rennes plant in western France to build a “Peugeot badged C-segment vehicle that will replace the current Peugeot 5008”. The new model will “come to market at year-end [2016] in Europe and the rest of the world”.
PSA’s statement further added, “Production volumes are expected to reach 70,000 units a year as from 2017, lifting the plant’s total output to more than 100,000 vehicles a year at that time.”
The new 5008 was announced to the media in September 2016 a few weeks before its public debut at the Paris motor show.
As well as at Rennes, the 5008 will be built in China: in July 2014, PSA and Dongfeng revealed plans to erect a new plant in city of Chengdu (Sichuan province). With total capacity eventually reaching 300,000 vehicles a year, DPCA’s fourth plant would build Dongfeng Citroën and Dongfeng Peugeot and Fengshen-badged SUVs and MPVs, the partners announced. The plant was inaugurated in September 2016 with the first examples of the 5008 rolling off the line there two months later.
The first 5008s were also built at Rennes in November 2016 but in February 2017, Groupe PSA announced that strong demand for the 3008 meant it would delay series production of the 5008 for a few months. It is now expected to commence in May.
DPCA’s production base comprises three plants in Wuhan, which are running on two shifts for a total potential capacity of 750,000 units a year. With the opening of the fourth plant, production capacity rose to one million units a year.
Monospaces
The Bipper Tepee, which is sold mostly in Europe, is a passenger version of the Bipper, a small van. It is built in Turkey by Tofas and went on sale in December 2007, having premiered at the Bologna motor show the same month. Although it has sliding side doors, there is no top-hinged tailgate. Instead it has the same asymmetric van doors as the LCV original, though, as with the side doors, these are glazed for the Tepee.
Facelifted versions of the Bipper, Nemo and Qubo were announced in June 2016. A replacement is due out in late 2018.
Announced in January 2008, the second generation Peugeot Partner, which is sold as the Peugeot Ranch in Italy, is also available as the Tepee, a minivan variant. It is the twin of the Citroen Berlingo Multispace. A facelifted Partner was revealed at the Algiers motor show in March 2015.
The successor to the Peugeot Partner was confirmed by PSA and General Motors in April 2015 as being under development. The Citroën Berlingo/Berlingo Multispace replacement and the Opel/Vauxhall Combo successor are part of the same development programme. All will be manufactured at Vigo, with the first of the three due to appear in 2018.
The Traveller, a larger van and minivan, was announced by Peugeot in December 2015. It is part of a three vehicle joint venture, the other two models being the Citroen SpaceTourer and second generation Toyota Proace. All are manufactured at the SEVEL nord plant in the French town of Lieu-Saint-Amand/Hordain.
PSA and TME revealed all three models at the Geneva motor show in March 2016. Each is available as an MPV for private buyers and as a Shuttle for business users. Up to nine occupants can be carried. The Proace, SpaceTourer and Traveller share powertrains and a platform.
These vehicles were the first vehicles for a modified version of PSA’s EMP2 architecture. This has the front part of that platform but the rest was developed especially for the SpaceTourer, Proace and Traveller.
The LCV versions of the Traveller and SpaceTourer are the Peugeot Expert and Citroën Jumpy/Dispatch.
Summary
Where Peugeot really needs to lift its performance is China, where sales fell by 14 percent in 2016, in a rising market. In short, the boom in SUVs have caught the brand off guard but the introduction of the 5008 and the new 3008 should see some improvements shortly: registrations data by model for January 2017 was not available at the time of writing.
There has been better news from Europe, where, as at the end of January, the Peugeot brand was off to a good start, its share of 6.1 per cent being steady, with sales slightly outpacing the market. According to ACEA, Peugeot registrations rose by +10.4 per cent, versus the market’s rise of 10.2 per cent gain.
With Groupe PSA strongly profitable in CY2016, the years of relatively low spending on future models should now be behind the firm. Many questions remain unanswered over potential plans exist for new synergies with Opel-Vauxhall but the picture should become clearer later in 2017. At the very least, expect more sharing of architectures and European plants.
Future model plan reports for other manufacturers can be viewed in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More data on vehicle lifetime and future product plans is available in PLDB from QUBE.
