"While Peugeot's main priority would be growing within its existing joint venture, the company is now also considering taking a second one," Philippe Varin, PSA's new chief executive, was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source. "The other carmakers in China - VW, General Motors and the Japanese - have two, and we only have one," the Peugeot chief said to the newspaper. "It's one of the options."
As said, this would be the second joint venture in the country, as PSA already collaborates in China with Dongfeng Group. But even so, the company has been trying to sign new deal ever since June 2007 when it joined forces with Chinese carmaker Hafei to conduct a feasibility study. Dongfeng opposed PSA's plans, saying that the French alliance should first concentrate on the current joint venture and only then seek new opportunities in the country.
PSA initially planned to launch a minicar in China that would be based on Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107. Internally known as A5, the car hasn't reached production, as the French group decided to delay the launch of the car until the auto market become a bit more stable.
Additionally, several media reports already hinted that PSA wants to build a 1.6 million square meters facility in Wuhan but PSA officials refused to comment on the matter.
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