Back in February 2011, when Peugeot officially announced that it will enter the Indian market, the whole of India’s automotive community rejoiced. Then we saw the cars testing on the Indian roads and gave them a thumbs up. The French manufacturer finally zeroed in on a site in Gujarat for their plant before the Auto Expo.
Peugeot made its presence felt at the Indian Auto expo with hybrid cars, MPVs and race cars. They were all set to enter the market with a bang!
However, the company’s India expansion plans have seem to hit a roadblock. News comes in through TheEconomicTimes that the company is shutting down its Mumbai office and re-evaluating its India plans.
Jonathan Goodman, director relations presse, PSA Peugeot Citroen -
The group is currently evaluating the scheduling of the project, which may lead to some adjustments to the schedule as it currently stands.
The reason for this ‘re-evaluation’ seems to be the declining sales in the European region where PSA stands as the second largest manufacturer. The car maker is re-evaluating the strategies for "frugal spending" on the India project to get maximum bang for buck. Further adding to that, the car maker is once again searching for partners who could help them with their India strategy.
[Source: Economictimes.indiatimes.com]