Peugeot, Citroen utes may be based on HiLux

It's no secret that Peugeot and Citroen's parent company, PSA Groupe, is plotting its first one-tonne pick-up to flesh out its global portfolio and a recent social media post suggests the Toyota HiLux will be its donor vehicle.

"A PSA boss has revealed to us that new pickup will be based on Toyota Hilux," said UK website Parkers on Twitter in recent days.

If the unqualified comment is true, the new Peugeot and/or Citroen ute would be based on an ageing platform as Toyota's current HiLux would be around four or five years old when the French ute emerges close to 2020.

As part of its 'Push to Pass' business plan announced last month, PSA promised to deliver 34 new models including 26 passenger cars, eight light commercial vehicles and its first one-tonne ute by 2021.

The French car-maker’s ambitious six-year expansion strategy includes the introduction of seven plug-in hybrid, four all-electric and five new global DS models, and “one new car, per region, per brand and per year”.

Crucially for Australia, of the 121 new models PSA plans to launch worldwide by 2021, 17 will take place in the India Pacific region, where PSA is targeting a 50 per cent increase in sales.

Peugeot cannot afford to develop a new ute from scratch and is understood to be negotiating with several manufacturers. Mitsubishi and Toyota are likely candidates due to having joint-ventures with PSA already.

While Indian and Chinese manufacturers like Mahindra, Tata, Great Wall and Foton cannot be ruled out, PSA's first one-tonner is most likely to be based on the HiLux, which could also underpin Mazda's next-generation BT-50 -- a model currently based on Ford's Ranger.

PSA is unlikely to partner with Nissan, whose Navara will form the basis of the first pick-ups from Mercedes-Benz and its arch-rival Renault.

However, it remains unclear if the French ute will be sold by both Peugeot and Citroen, and whether either or both vehicles will be produced in right-hand drive for Australia, which is among the top five mid-size pick-up markets by volume globally.

Further clouding matters, the tweet from Parkers was not backed up with quotes from said 'boss, but did attract a response from Toyota's European corporate communications officer, Jean-Yves Jault.

He said "@ParkersNews You're really lucky because we have not heard of that at all... I think we'd know."

It's not clear if the Toyota Europe exec is attempting to muddy the waters of an impending deal or is indeed telling the truth, but confirming or denying multi-million-dollar joint-ventures is not standard automotive industry practice.