Peugeot Citroen Develops Mid-Sized Sedan for India

The Peugeot Citroen group will launch several new models in India in an effort to benefit from the local growth, with the first project to hit the market to come in the form of a mid-size sedan. The French alliance hasn't provided too many details on its future intentions but did mention that they will pay more attention to both the commercial and the industrial businesses in India.

As for the mid-size sedan, officials of the two companies remained tightlipped, saying only that they intend to sell half of their vehicles outside Europe by 2015, thus increasing the current 39 percent sales figures registered by non-European markets.

“India is a key market and this new implantation reflects our ambition to become a global player. As in China, we will offer Indian customers vehicles adapted to their expectations," Gregoire Olivier, VP Asia, PSA Peugeot Citroen, was quoted as saying by Rush Lane.

"Peugeot is pleased to announce its intention to enter the Indian market with both commercial and industrial operations. The brand will produce, as a first step, a mid-sized sedan car," the company also added in a statement.

PSA has also sketched an expansion plan for China, according to which the country is predicted to become the French group's number one market by 2015. China is thus supposed to surpass France, where Peugeot currently delivers approximately 400,000 units per year. In China however, Peugeot wants to boost sales as much as possible in the next few years, with estimates pointing to 200,000 vehicles in 2011, up from 150,000 units in 2010 and 112,000 units in 2009.