Groupe PSA the French automobile manufacturer has planned to enter the Indian market. The company has sought to enter the market not with Peugeot but with Citreon, the other popular car brand. This has left many people puzzled as it was expected of the company to go ahead with Peugeot. The move was announced by the chairman of the managing board, Carlos Tavares after the presentation of FY18 financial results.

HISTORY

Groupe PSA has been standing for 200 years. The company started out in the metal industry in 1810, manufacturing its first petrol car as late as 1890. The group took its current shape in 1966, hereupon it came to be known as Groupe PSA. It acquired Chrysler Europe in 1978 which made it the 4th largest car manufacturing company in the world then. The company has a rich legacy behind it and still continues to grow on and lead the market segment in various parts of the globe.

Outlook:

The group plans to build a power-train plant along with a vehicular plant in India. The power-train production is to start before their vehicular plant kicks in. A power-train project has already started in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The company is to step into the market on a JV with CK Birla group. The deal with CK Birla is supposed to be worth 100 million Euros for the car manufacturing unit. The unit has a capacity of 1,000 cars. Tamil Nadu has bagged both the projects for the vehicle and the powertrain plant. The plant is set to be fully integrated, housing, production, distribution as well as procurement for the vehicles.

The company has aimed to increase its sales outside Europe by 50% by the end of 2021. Groupe PSA has also made plans to introduce Opel in Russia and Peugeot in North America. Peugeot, (under the parent company of Groupe PSA) has been a leader in automobiles in Europe since decades and has continued to show robust growth in the sector. The company’s sales have increased by 26% in the first half of 2018 in the SUV segment and is expected to continue its upwards trend.

The Indian car market is already a hotly-contested one, but it has been observed that if a company builds trust amongst the Indian people it can be heavily rewarded, as has been seen in the case of Hyundai. Citreon is awaited in the Indian markets, whether it is able to compete with other brands or not is an entirely different matter.

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