You’re missing a big opportunity in many countries by not competing with the Dacia/Renault Sandero: why is there no Peugeot 301 hatchback?
In fact, 301 is not a low-cost car. If you want to have the proof of it, when you go to Algeria or Turkey or other countries, you will see this – it’s like a small 508. The reality of 301 is very simple. If you take the B and C segments in Europe, notchbacks are just two percent. If you take the same segments in Africa and Asia, notchback cars are 50 percent.
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But nevertheless you’re selling that car in low income markets.
You will find it in Greece, in Poland, Czech Republic and other countries in Eastern Europe. We know quite well the Dacia story with Logan. Renault, in the beginning did not want to sell that car in Western Europe, but cars were crossing borders and being sold in rich markets. So, it’s not that I don’t want 301 to be sold in the richer markets, it’s that in clinic tests, people prefer 208, or 308. They don’t know what 301 is. There is no desire from customers for this car in Western Europe.
How is 301 compatible with this idea of a move upmarket by Peugeot?
If you travel to Istanbul you will see that Peugeot is not as it is in Western Europe. It’s a reality, so you have to adapt where you would want the brand to be to each market.
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By GlobalDataSo is the success of Dacia something that Citroen rather than Peugeot should be chasing?
If you consider that low-cost is the way to develop your company, then you need low-cost everything: R&D, marketing, sales, manufacturing. We don’t have this. All our plants are in Western countries or in China where the wages are increasing year after year. It’s not like what Renault had with Dacia in Romania.
We also have just started to come out of a very strong crisis and we are focusing the company on a transition and a move upmarket. We cannot at the same time develop from nothing a low-cost brand.
One model that should surely become more upmarket is the next 508. Would a Volkswagen CC-style of car work and will you definitely build the future 508 in Europe, or just in China?
I share your perception. We are analysing the flow of customers between segments. Something interesting is happening with cars like Passat, Octavia, and 508. If people have cars like this, they want to switch to SUVs and if people have smaller cars, they prefer a more dynamic model, maybe an A5 Sportback. So the segment shrinks and shrinks. But, even though we still need a high-end car for Peugeot, the next 508 cannot be like the 508 of today.
SUVs are changing the game. I think there is still room for European production of these sorts of models, and also production in China. We know we can produce D segment models profitably but, we are still looking at what the 508 successor will be.
Is that why Peugeot has an SUV concept on its stand at the Paris Mondial? Is it a preview of a ‘6008’ as a replacement for the 508?
Quartz is the future of Peugeot SUVs. Carlos Tavares has expressed his desire for us to enter the D-SUV segment and we are clearly working on it. We are in a pre-study stage and we think that we need to top our range with this kind of big SUV.
Is there really a market in Europe for a mainstream brand big SUV? Murano failed and Touareg does only small volume. Ford seems to believe that the Edge will be a success here but will it?
To be clear, China will make the success of such a car. If it can work in China then we can sell it worldwide but China will lead.
Another new model at the Paris show is a diesel engine for the 508 RXH. Is it because the idea of having just a HYbrid4 powertrain in that car didn’t work?
Many people went to showrooms to see the RXH but then said no, it’s too expensive for me. I don’t regret the decision to sell the 508 RXH with only this powertrain as it gave us a start for HYbrid4. Now it’s time to open this car to other engines.
There is something else with hybrids. When governments push incentives, then people buy them, but when the money runs out, then no-one is interested – in France and some other countries we have seen this. A second issue is that Hybrid4 being just for diesel, it’s been too European and we want to sell cars globally. So for the future we will see more technologies like plug-in hybrids with gasoline engines.
To be clear, PSA’s future hybrids will see a move away from diesel and a move towards petrol PHEVs?
Yes, but Hybrid4 will not be phased out as we are selling some – less this year than the year before due to a change in the incentives schemes in some countries. I’m not talking about something that we need to stop selling, it’s more than we will add other hybrid technologies. This will be for CO2-driven markets: Europe and China mainly. And this will be in segments where we offer larger vehicles, and then moving down. Some IC (combustion engine) versions of our 308 have better CO2 averages than certain hybrid cars, so this is not an urgent priority for us today.
What percentage of Peugeot sales are in China?
Something like 20 to 25 percent but you know I have to recalculate this every month. Now we have year to date 40 percent growth, in fact in September it was something like 50-60 percent growth. It’s just amazing. It’s products but also customer service: we were number one in JD Power customer surveys.
Where is PSA at with HybridAir?
The fact is, it’s a breakthrough but the issue is one of sharing this with a partner to cut down the development costs. The problem is, our competitors have also invested heavily in their own R&D so they can’t just abandon their own ideas.
HybridAir is ready. If you find enough volume with a partner to start, we will do it. Maybe it will arrive in two years, who knows? Some of the competition might think that electric vehicle technology is not developing fast enough and plug-in hybrids might be too expensive, so HybridAir could be the solution. With New Energy vehicles, you can’t just develop the technology and then put in on the market; only Toyota has been able to do that. But, we are not Toyota, we are not as strong as Toyota.
