French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen wants to grow 30 percent in China this year, with a long-term goal of obtaining an 8 percent share of its booming market by 2016, a senior executive said on Monday.
Several 408 sedans rolled into a cavernous Beijing showroom on Monday for a gala launch ceremony dominated by young Chinese, the brand's target buyers in the world's top auto market.
Western carmakers, battered by a deep industry crisis, are relying on emerging markets such as China for growth this year, while European markets are expected to suffer as scrapping incentives wane.
Peugeot plans to launch one new model a year following the release of the 408 model.
"Next year it's a car that's also a sedan and afterwards again a sedan, because the Chinese market is above all sedans," Jean-Marc Gales, head of the Peugeot and Citroen brands, told Reuters in an interview.
The 408, which will be available from April and built in Wuhan, China, will allow "significant growth" for the brand, he said. The company is targeting a volume of 100,000 cars a year.
The French vehicle maker operates a car manufacturing joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co in China. Gales said it was also talking to other potential Chinese partners.
"We have a very good cooperation with Dongfeng Motors and ambitious growth plans with Dongfeng," Gales said.
China's overall vehicle market should grow 15 percent this year, he said.
Peugeot Citroen group had achieved a China market share of 3.4 percent in 2009, Gales told journalists on a conference call.
Gales said the 408 model would appeal to a new, younger target audience, noting that in China 57 percent of buyers of cars in the same market segment as the 408 are aged between 30 and 45, compared with much higher average ages in Europe.
The 408 would see competition from the likes of Germany's Volkswagen and Japanese carmakers Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Honda.
China's auto market, which overtook the United States as the world's largest auto market last year thanks to a raft of policy incentives, has been a major bright spot amid a global industry downturn.
Last year, 10.33 million passenger cars were sold in China, up 52.93 percent from 2008, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
