Cars

French carmaker steers toward 8% share in Chinese market

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-19 10:03

SHANGHAI - French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen hopes to increase its share in the Chinese market to 8 percent by 2015, the company's CEO Philippe Varin said Monday in Shanghai.

The target is a step up from the company's less than 4 percent market share in the world's largest auto market last year.

Of the desired market share, 5 percent is expected to be from PSA's joint venture with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor Co, Ltd and the remaining 3 percent will come from a new company formed jointly by PSA and China Changan Automobile Group, Varin said.

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PSA's joint venture with Dongfeng sold about 376,000 vehicles in China last year.

Varin said the venture with Changan is awaiting the Chinese government's final approval.

PSA and Changan signed a deal for a 50-50 manufacturing joint venture in July 2010 with an initial investment of 8.4 billion yuan ($1.29 billion). The new plant will have a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles and 200,000 engines.

China has become the second largest market for PSA products, he said.

In a move that shows China's importance to PSA, the company unveiled its new DS5 premium five-seat car on Monday, which will be the first model of the coming new venture.