Peugeot 207 starts volume production in China

Shanghai, August 29 (Gasgoo.com) Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroen Automobile, a joint venture between the Dongfeng Motor Corporation and the PSA Group, has started to mass produce the Peugeot 207, company sources told a Chinese newspaper.

The National Business Daily reported that domestically made Peugeot 207 will go on sale in November but the existing 206 model will not instantly quit the market.

Peugeot 207 Compact, which is being produced and sold in Argentina and Brazil under the name of Peugeot 207, is a re-styled Peugeot 206 with a new interior and a front similar to 207 and 307 models. The report said it will feature some additional modifications particularly made for Chinese customers.

Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroen launched the previous 206 model in China in early 2006. But with intensified competition, the 206 model's sales began to suffer and the car closed the first half of this year with 15,500 units sold, down 42 percent from one year earlier.

The company's popular Peugeot 207 CC, the coupe-cabriolet successor to the 206 CC, will also be launched in China on September 6, which would replace the existing 206 CC on sale in the Chinese market.