PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-largest automaker, is planning to develop vehicles that run on alternative energy sources in a venture with Changan Automobile Group Co (長安汽車集團) to meet increasing demand for cars that pollute less.
The automakers will also explore making hybrid and electric vehicles in China, PSA Peugeot chief executive Philippe Varin said yesterday in Shenzhen, China, where the Paris-based automaker held a ground-breaking ceremony.
The European automaker may join its rivals, including General Motors Co, Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co, in planning to introduce so-called plug-in hybrid vehicles to China, where government subsidies are driving up demand. Peugeot and Changan will also start making the luxury Citroen DS 5 model in Shenzhen starting in 2013 as demand in Europe weakens, Varin said.
“Slow European growth means Peugeot needs to expand in China,” Varin said. “There are savings we must make in some parts of the world while we develop others.”
He said savings would be made in Europe, but he declined to elaborate on whether the savings would include job cuts.
The French automaker, which expects to introduce the first car under its China-only brand in 2014, has said it aims to more than double its share of the world’s biggest auto market to 8 percent in 2015 from 3.4 percent last year.
Peugeot’s China sales rose more than 10 percent this year to more than 400,000 units, Gregoire Olivier, PSA Peugeot Citroen chief executive of Asian operations, told reporters in Shenzhen.
Peugeot announced plans in July to invest US$1.2 billion in a 50-50 joint venture to produce 200,000 vehicles a year at Changan’s Shenzhen plant for Citroen and a new, shared brand.
Peugeot plans to start with 16 dealers selling its DS brand in China and intends to increase the number to as many as 25 by the end of next year, Changan PSA Automobile Co executive vice president Ying Zhanwang (應展望) told reporters.
Changan PSA is a joint venture between Peugeot and Changan.
Electric-car sales in China are forecast to exceed those in the US by 2020 as the world’s largest polluter seeks to cut emissions, according to the Boston Consulting Group.
Electric cars may account for as much as 7 percent of total auto sales in China by 2020, Boston Consulting said in a June 14 report.
Chinese consumers are more receptive to the technology than their US and European counterparts, with more than 90 percent showing interest, the report found.
Toyota Motor Corp, Asia’s biggest automaker, started a yearlong test of its Prius plug-in hybrid in the city of Tianjin, China, early this year. The model is not being sold to consumers yet.
Toyota is set to demonstrate a prototype of its newly developed electric car — the RAV4 EV — at the Taipei International Auto Show next month, Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), Toyota’s sales agent in Taiwan, said on Saturday. The auto fair is scheduled to open on Dec. 24 and run through Jan. 1.
According to Toyota Taiwan’s Web site, the RAV4 EV model will start mass production and go on sale in the US next year as scheduled.
Hotai Motor said the new electric car was codeveloped by Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc and Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley-based firm that designs, produces and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components.
The RAV4 EV model can be fully recharged in five to seven hours on a 200-240 volt recharging system and its maximum range will be 190km to 210km, Hotai Motor said.
The car dealer said that with rising awareness of pollution, it plans to introduce more hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric car models to Taiwan in the future.
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