Peugeot itching to return to pick-up segment but on its own accord
"Sixty years on from the original, we are not in this market and I want to be in this market".
Peugeot has become the latest automaker to set its sights on the lucrative one-tonne pick-up segment as it looks to compete with Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Mazda and soon, Hyundai.
Speaking to motoring.com.au, Peugeot CEO, Jean-Philippe Imparato, said the brand has expressed interest in introducing a pick-up for developed countries, but stressed that developing markets currently comes first.
“We will have a pick-up in the coming months, in the one-tonne market. We won’t be in Australian market right away but we will be in other markets. For Australia, it’s a question of price and regulation. At the moment my aim is to cover Middle East, South and Latin America for Peugeot to come to where Peugeot was some decades ago,” Imparato said.
Despite the automaker already fielding a one-tonner, the simply titled Pick-up launched in 2017 as a badge engineered version of the Chinese market Dongfeng Rich, itself a spin-off of the D22 Nissan Navara/Hardbody, Imparato stated that he wants to “learn to right way” before making any further announcements.
“Australia is a product-specific market with specific spare parts. Let’s start with something that is affordable for some destination and after having learned… [look at Australia],” he said, adding that the marque needs to be present in a segment it was sixty years ago with models such as the iconic 404 and 504.
Although it was reported soon after the Pick-up’s unveiling that Peugeot could use its commercial vehicle partnership with Toyota to introduce a version of the Hilux, Imparato rubbished the claims by saying that “we don’t have any link on this”.
At present, Toyota sells rebadged version of the Peugeot Expert/Citroën Dispatch/Opel Vivaro and Citroën Berlingo/Peugeot Partner/Opel Combo as the ProAce and ProAce City in Europe.
As indicated by Imparato, and in an effect confirming a report by Auto Express in 2017, the still-named newcomer, like the Pick-up, will be made in China by Changan and debut sometime next year.
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