- PSA unveiled its new development plan for the group. Here underneath these measures and their analysis:
1.Sell one million vehicles in China from 2017-2018, under partnership with Dongfeng and Changan.
If PSA achieves this objective, China will remain the second largest market of the group, but however only with a minor increase of its share of Chinese market (according to our forecasts this share should progress from 3% in 2013 to 4% in 2014).
Besides, the cumulative capacities of Dongfeng and Changan (about 900,000 units early 2015) will not match the future demand. PSA will have therefore to either increase the capacity of current plants (existing or under construction) or build a new plant.
2.Creation of a specific DS brand in Europe.
The strategy of creating a DS premium brand in the PSA group in Europe (as it exists already in China) is close to strategies which have been developed by VW (Audi), Toyota (Lexus) and Renault-Nissan (Infiniti) over the last decades. A question is whether in the future one or more plants will be only dedicated to DS (as Audi) or DS production lines will be shared with Peugeot and Citroën (such as Toyota and Lexus models). Another point is: will DS have its own design and Engineering departments or will the models continue to be developed by engineers skilled in entry-range and medium-range design?
3.Range concentration: around 26 models instead of 45.
PSA range includes small-volume (C-Zero, ION), end of life and not to be replaced (807-C8, 4008) models, as well as older models no more sold in Europe but still alive in other world areas (206-C2 China, 207) or duplicate models (old and new Berlingo / Partner. The announced concentration plan is therefore a natural rearrangement of the PSA range.
4.Launch 8 new models each year at a global level.
This announcement does not come into contradiction with the previous announcement since many models have naturally to be replaced.
From 2014, only in Europe, an average of 3 models per year will arrive at the end of their life cycle.
