News ID: 8
Publish Date : 03 July 2017 - 13:12

PSA will use Chinese engines

After producing cars by Chinese car makers, this time they will export their engines to France and PSA will use them in their vehicles.
Several auto enthusiasts had predicted the end of the Chinese auto market outside of the country’s mainland, but according to a new report by Automotive News China in Beijing, French PSA Group assembly car production lines will be getting Chinese engines.

The firm announced it would ship 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline engines produced by its joint venture with Dongfeng Motor to Europe, ‘making better use of its production capacity in China.’

The partnership began producing three-cylinder engines for export last week at its engine plant in the central China city of Xiangyang, the report said referring to Dongfeng’s press release.

Now PSA expects to ship 55,000 of those Chinese engines to its European assembly plants, according to the state-owned Chinese automaker.

The Paris-based PSA Group did not say how much it would be saving per unit by building them in China as opposed to the company’s old factories in France.

 Same Engines Used in Iran

In China, the 1.2-liter engine is used in small cars such as the Peugeot 2008, 308 and 408, and the Citroen C3-XR and C4.

At least two of the vehicles, the Peugeot 2008 and 308 models are also destined for the Iranian market. Other Citroen models, as part of a joint venture with SAIPA, now called SAIPA Citroen, are also likely to be delivered from China in CKD (completely knocked down) format in the next few months.

PSA’s joint venture with Dongfeng, based in the central China city of Wuhan, produces Citroen and Peugeot cars and light trucks.

The French automaker also has a partnership with China’s Changan Automobile Co. in the south China city of Shenzhen.

Changan is the builder of the Citroen high-end DS brand in that country. That firm set up operations in Tehran in 2016.

In the first five months of the year, PSA deliveries in China and Southeast Asia plunged 49% from a year earlier to 130,300 vehicles.

Data on global automaker PSA Group previously released in the French media noted Iran outperformed all other regions in sales for the first quarter of 2017.

According to the figures, the carmaker sold 104,000 units in Iran in the first quarter of 2017.

Numbers published show Iranian car sales accounted for 86.5% of the company’s total sales in the Middle East and North Africa.


Source: Financial Tribune