Following the re-entry of the French car maker Renault in the Indian auto market, yet another France based car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen is all set to re enter in the Indian market. The company has already decided to set-up a manufacturing unit in the state of Gujarat.
Besides a long portfolio of compact and premium cars, Peugeot also plans to bring hybrid cars in the Indian auto market once it gets established in this Asia’s second largest car market.
In a recent interview given to ET, PSA Peugeot Citroen's global chairman, Philippe Varin said that the company has hybrid vehicles in both electric and diesel version that will be offering a mileage of as high as 30 km per liter. He added that the company will be commencing its Indian operations with the launch of its popular model 508 by year 2014. This will be followed by a series of car launches in top of the B, C and D segments.
While further elaborating company’s global tie-ups, he said that Peugeot currently has a tie-up with SMW for petrol engines and Italian Fiat for the diesel engines.
The company plans to enter in the Indian market adopting top to down approach, same as adopted by Volkswagen a few years back. The firm will first roll-out vehicles in the premium sedan segment in competition with the likes of Volkswagen Jatta and Passat, and then will expand to hatchback segment to compete with the likes of Maruti Swift and Volkswagen Polo
