NEW YORK: Some 30 years after exiting the US due to plunging sales, Peugeot is preparing a return to a market where it previously knew glory at the famed Indianapolis 500.
PSA Group chief executive Carlos Tavares said this week that the Peugeot – a brand known for its lion logo – is the parent company’s pick for the US market. The company plans to sell Peugeot vehicles in the US by 2026 in line with a multi-step 10-year plan first announced in 2016.
The comeback is being devised as PSA, which also sells cars under the Citroen and Opel brands, faces pressure from investors to diversify its revenues beyond Europe at a time when US sanctions have torpedoed ambitions in Iran and the Chinese market has slowed considerably.
What kind of cars will be sold? What will be the silhouette? Will Peugeot work through existing dealerships, an expensive proposition in some key cities, or sell directly to customers and skip certain markets?
For now, the carmaker isn’t offering many details.
“We believe we’re being frugal,” said Larry Dominique, chief executive of PSA North America.
“We believe we’re being very careful and making sure that we do this the right way because new brands entering the US and Canadian market does not happen very often.”
Experts say the ambitious plan will not be easy to execute.
“I think Peugeot will struggle to get back into the US market,” said longtime industry consultant Maryann Keller. “It will be expensive and take years.”
“No-one under the age of 50 recalls seeing a Peugeot on the road,” Keller said, adding that 1970s reruns of the schlumpy Peugeot-driving detective “Columbo” are not top of mind any more.
Peugeot plans initially to sell vehicles in the US that are imported from China and Europe. “Yes we understand there’s tariff discussions going on right now and so forth,” Dominique said. “But the expectation is we will initially import.”
Peugeot plans to launch in a single US state and will then ramp up. The company has identified 15 US states and four Canadian provinces that are especially receptive to imports.
The company will explore US manufacturing if there are volumes to justify it.
Peugeot faces myriad challenges to be successful in a market that is huge but also already saturated with some 40 brands and looks to be stable at best in overall sales after a series of records earlier in this decade.
Peugeot can compete in the market with models that have sold well in Europe such as the 3008 and 5008 SUVs. But the brand’s smaller sedan models, which sell well in Europe, are deeply out of favour in America.