PSA has announced that its Rennes plant in north-western France has been assigned the production of a new Citroën SUV/crossover that was previously set to be assigned to a plant outside Europe.
Based on the EMP2 platform, the new crossover will be manufactured alongside the future Peugeot 5008 and the Citroën E-Mehari. With these three models, output at the plant will ultimately reach 100,000 vehicles per year compared with 60,000 currently. PSA said that EUR100m will be invested to increase output at the Rennes plant.
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The ‘C84’ project is part of a ‘dynamic product strategy’ (part of Push to Pass) that will see four new models launched by the brand in less than 18 months.
The second generation Aircross is expected to have been previewed by a concept of the same name. This had its global debut at the Shanghai motor show in April 2015. PSA stated that its platform was EMP2 and that it was 4.5m long.
The Rennes plant was chosen after a study carried out by the PSA Group over several months, reflecting the performance measures taken by the plant and the commitments made to upgrade operations.
The plant upgrade plan will begin in early 2017 and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The upgrade represents an EUR100m investment, which will also benefit other automotive industry players in Brittany (the region around Rennes in north-western France).
PSA said the decision to manufacture the new vehicle in Rennes was made possible by the “commitment of the entire workforce and the shared drive by management and the signatory trade unions to come together to secure the plant’s future”.
On 29 April, an agreement called the “Contract for the Future of Rennes” was signed at the plant, with the support of five of the Group’s six trade unions (CFDT, CFE/CGC, CFTC, FO and SIA/GSEA), representing more than 80% of employees. The decision to manufacture the new vehicle in Rennes was subject to this agreement, which will come into force on 1 January 2017.
Commenting on the announcement, Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board of the PSA Group, said: “The decision to manufacture this new vehicle in Rennes shows that, when stakeholders are committed to working together to secure the future of a manufacturing plant, they can create the performance conditions necessary in a continuous efficiency improvement process.”
