PSA's Plans For The Indian Market

In the wake of their partnership announcement with the CK Birla Group, we sat down with Mr. Emmanuel Delay, Executive VP, India & Pacific, PSA Group, to learn more about PSA’s plans for the Indian market.

Could you tell us about your plans for India and when we’re likely to see Peugeot cars on the road in India?

The plan is quite clear. The first step in our strategy was to establish a partnership with the CK Birla Group. This partnership will allow us to manufacture power trains in India, as well as assemble vehicles. We also intend to start engineering work in India, following which we will develop two-to-three models that will be sold in India. The first launch would take place in 2020-2021.

Will you start with a top-down approach in terms of your product strategy?

We haven’t decided yet. As I mentioned, our first priority was to establish a partnership with someone we can trust. I’m sorry I can’t give you too much information on this, as it’s not finalized yet – we are still at the very early stages of designing new vehicles. But, yes, we will not start with a small A-segment car.

Even though your outlook towards the global market is quite aggressive, such as acquiring Opel & Vauxhall, and bidding for Proton, you outlook for India is quite cautious. Why is that?