Peugeot launched its 207 compact car on Thursday, a drop-shape car with stylish touches, in a bid to tighten its grip on a very competitive market segment and reverse a trend of declining sales in Europe, according to Reuters.
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The 207 will go on sale in France in April and in other European countries before the summer and the car brand aims to sell more than 500,000 units next year – the first full year of sales, the report added.
Frederic Saint-Geours, chief executive of Automobiles Peugeot, reportedly declined to unveil pricing details for the car but said it would be priced “competitively” in the market.
Reuters said the 207 succeeds the 206 but Peugeot will continue to produce and sell the older model for many years yet.
Peugeot has sold more than 5.35 million 206s since its launch in 1998, with peak annual sales of about 800,000 units. The cars are built in France, Spain and the UK. Peugeot has said the 207 successor won’t be built in the UK, however.
“With the 1007 (a small compact with sliding door), 107, 207 and 206 we’re holding a pack of aces,” Saint-Geours told Reuters a day after Automobiles Peugeot posted a 1.6% decline in global unit sales in 2005 and a 5.4% drop in western Europe.
Declining sales in Europe, which accelerated in the fourth quarter, and a production ramp-up for new models saddled PSA Peugeot-Citroen with excess stocks of vehicles, the news agency noted.
Christian Peugeot, a scion of the founders and communications director, told Reuters the so-called “B” segment for compact cars was growing fast. He said the market segment grew by more than 30% in the past five years and growth was expected to accelerate in the coming years.
The report said Peugeot will market the 207 to young bachelors or couples, divorcees, active seniors or second-car buyers.
It will be pitted against Renault’s newly-launched Clio III, voted Car of the Year for 2006, the new Fiat Grande Punto, Volkswagen Polo, recently facelifted Ford Fiesta, soon-to-be redesigned Opel Corsa and just redesigned Toyota Yaris.
Reuters said the the 207 will be offered in four styles – casual, classic, sport and versatile – with various equipment levels.
The cars have a distinctive front with a large grille that has the form of two smiling lips and long, angular cat eye front lights. It has an optional large sunroof and comes with six engine types which will be complemented by powertrains developed in a joint venture with BMW.
The main instruments on the dashboard behind the wheel are in retro-design dials with chromium rims while other instrument indicators and a navigation system are on a central console, the news agency said.
But Reuters noted that, as with many cars in the segment, leg room remains limited and the boot is not very big. The car is 4.03 metres long, 1.72 metres wide and 1.47 metres high.
It uses the same platform as the Citroen C2, C3 and Pluriel, but the sister models have more rounded form where the silhouette of the 207 is oval, the report added.
PSA invested EUR1bn (US$1.21 billion) in the new model which will be produced at Poissy in France, Madrid in Spain and the new Trnava site in Slovakia, Reuters said.
