Photo: Opel
In 2017, the figure of over 86 million cars sold worldwide would have been impossible to reach hadn’t it been for the huge increase in sales for SUVs.
Last year, this segment of the automotive industry reached 34 percent market share, prompting automakers all over the world into devising bold plans for SUVs in the years to come.
Europe follows this global trend, and one of the biggest players on the market there, PSA, is no stranger to this type of vehicles. The three main brands of the group, Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel, together with the more marginal ones DS and Vauxhall, have a combined SUV fleet comprising a total of 11 models.
In the first quarter of the year, says PSA, these eleven models have accounted for 250,000 of the units sold by the group on the Old Continent. In respect to its competitors, PSA has a market share on the European SUV segment of nearly 17 percent.
Aiming to increase that share, PSA announced on Thursday it would be ramping up production by adding a Citroen C5 Aircross production line in Rennes, France, one for the Peugeot 5008 in Sochaux, France and an Opel Grandland X line in Germany, at Eisenach.
“These vehicle allocations demonstrate that economic performance plays a key role in ensuring high capacity utilization over the long term,” said Yann Vincent, PSA executive in charge with manufacturing.
"Our agile production base, which has been broadened by the Opel acquisition, is enabling us to meet growing customer demand for SUVs.”
The ramping up of production in Europe is only the beginning of the expansion of the brand. PSA plans a return to the United States sometime over the next ten years.
As a side note, the success of SUV in the U.S. is so great that last year, two out of three cars sold in 2017 have been SUVs.
Europe follows this global trend, and one of the biggest players on the market there, PSA, is no stranger to this type of vehicles. The three main brands of the group, Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel, together with the more marginal ones DS and Vauxhall, have a combined SUV fleet comprising a total of 11 models.
In the first quarter of the year, says PSA, these eleven models have accounted for 250,000 of the units sold by the group on the Old Continent. In respect to its competitors, PSA has a market share on the European SUV segment of nearly 17 percent.
Aiming to increase that share, PSA announced on Thursday it would be ramping up production by adding a Citroen C5 Aircross production line in Rennes, France, one for the Peugeot 5008 in Sochaux, France and an Opel Grandland X line in Germany, at Eisenach.
“These vehicle allocations demonstrate that economic performance plays a key role in ensuring high capacity utilization over the long term,” said Yann Vincent, PSA executive in charge with manufacturing.
"Our agile production base, which has been broadened by the Opel acquisition, is enabling us to meet growing customer demand for SUVs.”
The ramping up of production in Europe is only the beginning of the expansion of the brand. PSA plans a return to the United States sometime over the next ten years.
As a side note, the success of SUV in the U.S. is so great that last year, two out of three cars sold in 2017 have been SUVs.
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