Peugeot Is Coming Back to the United States After a 28-Year Hiatus

Peugeot is planning an American market reentry and will sell cars here again for the first time since 1991.

byJames Gilboy|
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French automotive conglomerate PSA Groupe announced Tuesday that will return to selling cars in the United States under its Peugeot brand.

"Our decision to bring Peugeot back into North America is the culmination of several years of study and research aimed at which of Groupe PSA's brands would best serve the customer needs of this market," stated PSA North America's CEO and president, Larry Dominique. "We are taking a pragmatic approach to entering the North American market and are confident that, from the larger 'mobility services' revolution currently taking place, to the more fundamental models of retail, service, financing and logistics—we'll continue to build our plan on careful, scalable solutions."

PSA Groupe CEO Carlos Tavares is quoted by Automotive News as having chosen Peugeot as PSA's reentry marque for its "strong growth." The executive reportedly explained that Peugeot will relaunch its brand in a "frugal, conservative, and profitable way," and will market vehicles from a mixture of the European and Chinese markets. Said models are reportedly undergoing the multi-year homologation process required for companies to be given approval to sell cars in the U.S.

Which vehicles will be built stateside and how Peugeot's vehicles will be distributed is reportedly not yet finalized, though a decision regarding these is said to be due by mid-year. PSA Groupe confirmed to The Drive in 2018 that it has 15 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces in mind for the sale of its vehicles, all of which make up a significant portion of the new car market, and crucially, are import-friendly.

One potential model in the cards for sale in the States is the newly revealed, redesigned Peugeot 208, a spunky subcompact city car that will be available as an electric vehicle, in which form it will be called the e-208. Peugeot declined to comment on whether the 208 or any of its variants would be sold in the US, and stated that no announcements regarding its North American market products are due in the near future.

PSA Groupe's formal reentry to the U.S. began in January of 2018, when the company opened its continental headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Its first new revenue stream in this country comes from the mobility service Free2Move, which allows car sharing in cities such as Seattle, Washington and Washington D.C. It will continue to expand and market Free2Move in 2019 in existing and new US cities.

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