PSA is going to transfer the production of the next generation Citroën C3 to Slovakia
- We saw last February (AutoAnalyses 2014-06) that PSA had decided to produce its B-segment models in countries with low cost labour such as in Eastern Europe.
- Thus the Peugeot 208 are gradually being transferred from the French Poissy plant to the Slovak plant of Trnava. The initial 50/50 proportion is evolving in 2014 towards a 30/70 proportion, and could reach a 20/80 proportion in 2015.
- This week, PSA has decided to pursue this relocation strategy by transferring the future Citroën C3 (launched in 2016) from Poissy to Trnava.
- This transfer was made possible thanks to the decision to transfer the Citroën C3 Picasso from Trnava to the GM plant of Zaragoza, Spain. However, the production capacity of 300 000 vehicles per year in Trnava seems a bit tight if you add up the the production units of the Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3. Hence, it may be increased to 350 000 or 400 000 vehicles per year in 2016.
- The Poissy plant will produce the Peugeot 208 premium and the future DS 3 (launch date : 2017) which will be available in 3 and 5 door versions, its production volume will be doubled compared to the current version. In short, Poissy could produce 200 000 cars per year in the coming years.
