According to Reuters, the French automakerpeugeot Citroen group (PSA) has agreed to buy China auto parts distributors to build a new control, so as to improve its performance in China market.
Peugeot Citroen said the acquisition will help them establish a solid position in the Chinese customer service market, and will allow it to expand its multi brand car maintenance service network.
At present, Jianxin auto parts factory is a leading distributor of spare parts in Shanghai. It sells more than 5 million components from main manufacturers.
According to the published data, PSA sold 3632300 vehicles last year, up 15.4% over the same period. Although PSA has achieved growth in many parts of the world, in some areas to achieve a surge, but in Chinese and Southeast Asian market has suffered a "cliff" decline.
In China and Southeast Asia, PSA sold 387000 last year, down 37.4% year on year. In fact, since 2016, the PSA in China's three major brands, Citroen, Peugeot DS there are different degrees of decline, by 2017 the situation had not improved.
According to the sales data released by Dongfeng Automobile Group, in 2017, the sales of cars in Shenlong Automobile were only 378 thousand vehicles, down 36.85% compared to the same period last year, only half of the 700 thousand sales target set at the beginning of the year. And Changan PSA sold up to 5904 vehicles in November 2017 by the end of November 2017.
According to the insiders, sales of PSA in China declined, the crux of which lies in the fact that the recognition of product design style in China is not high, and its brand positioning is fuzzy, such as the artificial Peugeot location. Meanwhile, its SUV product's empty window period also affects the performance in China. Compared with competitive products in China, PSA lacks obvious advantages. Compared with other joint-venture brands in recent years, the price of consumers is difficult to accept the pricing strategy of PSA, which is probably one of the main reasons for its sluggish sales.
However, PSA is not willing to be China's largest auto market in the world. Last June, PSA established more solid cooperation with Changan cars and planned to expand the DS brand quickly.
In January 12th, Changan automobile announced with PSA group together in cash, to the Changan Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co. Ltd. (CAPSA) to increase 3 billion 600 million yuan, "the promotion of CAPSA business, especially to promote the development of the DS brand, in order to better respond to a new round of market competition". CAPSA has launched at least one DS new product to the Chinese market every year since 2018, including the introduction of D grade models. The DS 7 Crossback, which has been unveiled at the Shanghai International Auto Show in 2017, will be officially listed at the Beijing International Auto Show in 2018.
