The collapse of French brands in China
- The French brands’ (Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, DS) sales have collapsed on the Chinese market, even before the market declined, since at PSA the trend reversal took place in 2015, three years before the trend reversal in the Chinese market. Despite the fact that PSA had been one of the first manufacturers to establish itself on the Chinese market starting in the early 1990s, the products and strategy implemented by the group did not ultimately meet Chinese demand, even though the figure of 700,000 annual sales had been reached and even exceeded in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, PSA sales fell to 614,000, 384,000 in 2017, 257,000 in 2018 and less than 150,000 in 2019. From four plants in 2014, the PSA group had only three plants three years later and now only one, since Dongfeng (the Chinese manufacturer that assembles Peugeot and Citroën) has decided to assign two of its plants to other activities. In this context, Dongfenghas further decided to sell its 12% stake in PSA and the PSA group is now considering leaving the Chinese market.
- For Renault, which entered the Chinese market much later, sales on the Chinese market are no greater than PSA's, but the French brand can count on its Japanese partner Nissan to represent the Renault-Nissan group in China ( where Nissan sells more than one million cars per year) and, on the other hand, the upcoming production launch of the small electric car K-ZE could boost Renault's sales on the Chinese market. In the meanwhile, the French brand may not sell more than 20,000 cars in 2019, compared to 50,000 in 2018 and 72,000 in 2017.
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