Re: Peugeot's return to North America
From: hugo_steincamp (norgo@cybertrails.com)
Date: Sat 30 Nov 2002 - 15:27:14 EST
Guys:
I don't want to break the spirit of the party, but let's get real.
The rumor of a North American return has periodically surfaced over
the last seven years or so; we've heard it all before. The evidence
is shaky at best. The 206 meets US crash specs, and yet I can't buy
one here. I remember Lew Bailie telling me that the boys at Peugeot
USA were confident of a US return, and that was four years ago. The
word of a Peugeot dealer in Germany is hardly strong evidence.
Peugeot has said that it will decide on a return to the US after the
current corporate plan expires in 2004. (Therefore, if a return was
going to happen it wouldn't be before 2006, as it will take a couple
of years to put the necessary sales, marketing, and technical support
infrastructure in place). Folz doesn't seem particularly enamored
with the American market and even thinks that Peugeots are too small
for it (I disagree). To be able to compete on price, Peugeot would
have build either a plant here or in Mexico, a newsworthy move that
would most likely involve a partnership with another firm (automotive
or other). There is no evidence that this arrangement is being
established. Peugeot is not going to import cars directly from Europe
and sell them here; this strategy was one of the reasons they failed
last time.
At least establishing dealers in the east and west coasts and then
slowly developing dealerships in the rest of the country is
consistent with Peugeot's strategy of developing a presence in
Mexico. They develop a dealer network slowly and learn the market
rather than moving in with a big splash.
But, Peugeot, if you're reading this, I want 407 with an HDI turbo
and a five-speed manual transmission.
Hugo Steincamp
'87 505 STX
Arizona, USA
--- In peugeot-L@y..., "Kit Foster" <foster@n...> wrote:
> On 30 Nov 2002 at 16:19, coupe404 wrote:
>
> > That's a very interesting rumour and it seems to be a lot more
> > credible than some of the previous stuff.
>
> Another dot to connect: A couple of months ago a friend of mine who
> works in government reported several calls to NHTSA in Washington
> from a Detroit-based consultant. The questions seemed to focus on
> DoT issues for 407, circa 2005 (model year?). The general scheme
> mentioned was returning the the east and west coasts, the old
> strongholds, with other presence to follow if all went well.
>
> Connecting this to the PSU research project and Reiner's German
> intelligence strongly implies something more than rumors, although
it
> could all fall apart if any of the links is judged too weak. Anyone
> reading the list will know that we're the hard core faithful, that
we
> would (and do) put up with far more hassle than the general public,
> and that even if each of us bought two new Peugeots it wouldn't be
> enough to sustain them here.
>
> Perhaps the biggest issue to be confronted, it seems to me is
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