Diesels not key: Peugeot

Has Peugeot fallen out of love with the fuel that helped it establish a point of difference Down Under? That's certainly the tone of the discussion proffered by new Peugeot Automobiles Australia boss Bill Gillespie late last week.

The French car brand will launch its new 208 range Down Under in October without any turbodiesel models. It's also now unlikely the long-awaited 508 RXH or 3008 Hybrid4 diesel hybrids will come to Australia. And no news either on a turbodiesel version of the 4008 compact SUV.

Mr Gillespie told motoring.com.au that wider local availability or added emphasis on diesel versions of its new and existing models were not priorities.

"It’s our view that at the moment diesel demand is pretty flat... Like, in 308 hatch, petrol is a stronger seller than the diesel now, and that would have been the other way around [not long ago], and in touring or wagon it’s about 50/50... And I know, just speaking about somebody else’s brand, if you look at Golf, their sales of petrol are much stronger now than they were for a long time."

According to Mr Gillespie, the economics of diesels are still not compelling. And the added efficiency of the new crop of petrol engines also count against oilers.

"You know, in most cases, the factories ask you to pay more as a consumer to get a diesel and... if we’re talking a $3000 or $3500 walk on diesel... and you pay more at the bowser... we’re seeing diesel demand is flat and reducing," Mr Gillespie told motoring.com.au.

"I think people are looking at [the latest] petrols and going… I like that new three cylinder 208, I drove that car a couple of weeks ago, you know, and I think the car’s fine and it’s very fuel efficient. Why would you need a diesel?.. I think, you know, for the extra money, I think a lot of people are saying… [let's stay with petrol]."

Mr Gillespie denied the change was a departure for Peugeot.

"It’s not a departure; all we’re saying is we’re recognising reality.  We could sit there and just say we’re just going to stay with diesel, but the reality is Australians are saying: 'We want fuel efficient petrol engines.'

"We want to keep our diesel – we’re not walking away from that, that is our brand DNA, you know, we grew the brand on diesel... I’m just saying we don’t want to sit there and say, 'Well, we sell diesels and that’s what we’re going to do,' and ignore the market demand. That’s just not good business."

Mr Gillespie stated diesel was still important in the SUV segment but engine type alone was not enough to justify a variant's existence. Peugeot, he says, will work to simplify its range Down Under. Indeed, the marque has a brand and image review underway at the moment that will impact the identity and skew of new models (and the ongoing range offering).

"We want to be careful. There’s no way we’re bringing a car to the market that has very low sales potential just because it’s a diesel," he stated.

"We’re going through a whole range review right now, as well as part of the brand review, and looking at every car we’ve got in the range, and being very careful what we keep and what potentially we don’t keep in the future. All the car lines have to make their own way."

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