All-new luxury Peugeot cars to be made in China

Shanghai, May 5 (Gasgoo.com) Since its re-entry to China four years ago, French car brand Peugeot has been widely recognized for its high quality. Peugeot Citroen has been boosting its R&D and production capacities in China, and will make high-end new cars locally for the Chinese market next year, said Jean-Louis Chamla, the company's  vice president of international sales and marketing, at the 2008 Beijing auto show.

Although it has only four years of presence and limited production capacity in China, Peugeot Citroen has seen its huge growth rate and potential in the country. With the launch of the PSA Peugeot Citroen's Shanghai R&D center and the operation of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Auto's platform 3, Dongfeng Peugeot as the Chinese venture of the French carmaker will accelerate its growth in China in the coming few years, and the Chinese market will play an increasingly important role in Peugeot's global strategy.

Peugeot Citroen will produce its high-end new car models locally in China after the new Peugeot platform now under construction is completed. The China-based Platform 3 is the carmaker's state-of-the-art platform outside France and can produce the same latest Peugeot models as in Europe. The new platform of Dongfeng Peugeot will start operation in June 2009 to make all-new Peugeot cars, inlcuding Peugeot 407 and even better Peugeot sedans, for Chinese consumers.

The company plans to introduce two models into the Chinese market annually in three years, in order to enhance its market share. Peugeot Citroen expects to sell 1500,000 vehicles in China this year, and also plans to further expand its distribution network across the country. Currently, the company has 220 distributors in 190 Chinese cities, and plans to boost the number to 260 by the end of this year.

Peugeot Citroen unveiled its new C Elysee model at the Beijing auto exhibit, and more models will be introduced to China later this year. Last year, Dongfeng Peugeot sold 63,661 Peugeot 307 vehicles and 28,558 Peugeot 206 vehicles in the Chinese market.