Indian Autos blog

After being on a house hunt for nearly a year, Peugeot Citroën has finally found its ‘Home sweet Home’. Unsurprisingly, it’s Sanand in Gujarat which is touted to be the next Motown for India. The French automaker will set up 4,000-crore facility at Sanand in Gujarat which is also home to our beloved Tata Nano and the new Ford factory.

Before finalizing the decision, the automaker was in talks in with Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh but those discussions fell through and Gujarat grabbed the opportunity. This will be Peugeot’s re-entry in India after a decade.

Earlier they had a JV with PAL India but because of mutual disagreements they had to pull out of India. Now, the company is back in India and has plans to create one of the largest automotive factory over here. For now, this plant will manufacture a mid-sized sedan (possibly the 507) with an annual capacity of 3 lakh cars.

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India’s flourishing car industry has fascinated car manufacturers from around the world and lured them into launching their product in the country. Soon Citroen, part of PSA Peugeot Citroen, group will also join this race according to the rumors circulating in the market.

Apparently, a top official from PSA recently visited Andhra Pradesh to meet Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and State Industries Department to discuss the nitty-gritty’s of a Greenfield project at Adibhatla SEZ near Shamshabad International airport. This is the same land that was offered to Tata’s for the Nano Plant.

But Citroen is very tight lipped about the development. The officials at Citroen -

We’re investigating the Indian market certainly. But we’re not in a position to give any details till we make an announcement.

Interestingly, this is not the first movie, it is rather a sequel. In 1993-94, PSA Peugeot Citroen had a JV with Premier Automobiles to assemble models such as the 309 for the Indian market. However, the JV was scrapped three years later after discrepancies had developed between the two partners and there were labor unrests at its plant.

Mr Daniel Zamparini, Chief Information Officer, PSA Peugeot Citroen in a teleconference last month-

You will have some news in a few weeks.

If all goes well, we are easily looking forward to a 4000+Cr investments and both brands, Peugeot and Citroen, to run on the streets. Peugeot will be the mass market brand and Citroen will touch the niche markets.

So it is just not the French President who is keen to visit India again, but the cars are too. Sarkozy is expected in India next month and along with could come good news for Peugeot-Citroen fans.

Image – entry-level Citroen C1

Peugeot-Citroen is planning a global sub-compact car for India, Brazil, China and Iran as well. Peugeot is deciding to build a plant for manufacturing this car either in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh

The company was present earlier in India from 1994-97, shut shop due to labor trouble and left to pursue interests overseas. But this time around, the company has better plans and ideas.

It is rumored that Brazil and Iran will first get this car in 2012 followed by India and China in 2013. Before the introduction of this compact, the company would sell cars imported from Europe. It would arrive in the form of CKDs and CBUs, but right now, things are still in the planning stage.

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French carmaker Peugeot has made it clear that it wants to have a go at the Indian market once again. Peugeot has already played in this deadly competitive car market way back in the mid nineties where it tied up with Premier Automobiles Ltd (PAL) and launched the 309 sedan which was a terrible flop!, purely because it was an out dated car and seemed like a clearance sale operation carried out by the French company.