China sales help bring PSA back to profit in H1

Shanghai, July 28 (Gasgoo.com) French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen SA said today that its growing sales of new cars in China and a slew of new models helped the company return to profit in the first half of the year, the AP reported.

The second-largest carmaker in Europe announced that it made a net profit of euro680 million ($886 million) in the first six months, compared with a euro962 million net loss of a year earlier. Revenues increased by 20.8% to euro28.39 billion.

China sales of Peugeot and Citroen vehicles increased 49% in the first half of this year to more than 176,000 units, and full-year sales are expected to reach 400,000 cars. A new local venture may help PSA hit its goal of selling 2 million vehicles annually in China by 2020.

Peugeot Citroen has two Chinese factories of a combined 450,000-unit capacity with its local joint venture partner Dongfeng Motor Corp that "delivered a major increase in both sales and earnings" in the first half. The Dongfeng-PSA venture is planning to build a third plant.

Earlier this month PSA began a second joint venture in China to make small, low-emission cars with Changan Automobile Group. CEO Philippe Varin said that this second partnership "represents a major step toward growing our business outside Europe.

PSA will launch its newly released Citroen DS3 sub-compact to the Chinese market and will introduce a new brand for the venture. The French carmaker will introduce one model to China each year.