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NEWS
Peugeot hybrids delayed... indefinitely
508 and 3008 HYbrid4 variants fall victim to cost of servicing infrastructureDiesel/electric hybrid models from Peugeot are unlikely to join us before the end of the year, despite an earlier report to the contrary. In fact, the prospects of the fuel sippers reaching Australia at all seem to be fading fast.
Back in April, Bill Gillespie, who was the General Manager/Director at Peugeot Automobiles Australia at the time, told motoring.com.au that both the 3008 HYbrid4 and 508 RXH HYbrid4 were due here for the final quarter of this year.
But with no further news on that front, we raised the question again with John Startari, Gillespie's replacement in a new, merged role heading up distribution of both Peugeot and Citroen brands in Australia. According to Startari, Sime Darby, the distributor for Peugeot and Citroen is still conducting its own research to determine the viability of either car for the local market.
"The study's taken a little bit longer than we anticipated, because there's going to be a viability study with the additional tooling and the market acceptance of those vehicles," Startari explained. "The results of that haven't been determined, so a decision can't be made until a business case is put forward."
The "additional tooling" amounts to added expenditure in dealer workshops to service the hybrid vehicles, as Startari goes on to explain.
"I think that the investment required in workshops for additional tooling and special training that has to go with that... it has to be viable for our dealers. So unless we can get to that critical [sales] volume, there's no point bringing [hybrids] in."
In other words, an unexpected wrinkle for the importer is the cost of amortising tools and training at dealer level across what is more likely than not to be a small sales base. And Peugeot is no Toyota when it comes to selling hybrids in larger volumes. Further confusing the issue, no doubt, is Peugeot's aim to roll out fixed-price servicing across its range.
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Written byKen Gratton
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