Peugeot says its problems won’t persist

The new distributor of Peugeot and Citroen vehicles in Australia has rejected the lack of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) availability for the entry-level version of its newly launched 3008 medium SUV as evidence the French brand still has issues with equipping cars correctly for this market.

Instead, Inchcape Australia CEO Nick Senior directed responsibility for the equipment omission from the vital new model toward the previous distributor Sime Darby.

Inchcape took over the distribution of Peugeot and Citroen in Australia on June 1.

“We have only been here eight weeks,” said Senior at the launch of the 3008, which is being pitched as a premium entry in the booming medium SUV class.

Clearly irritated by the line of questioning, he added: “My experience over 40 years suggests that changing equipment levels and specification on a production line take a little longer than eight weeks.”

“We are very mindful of what is needed in Australia and the factory is very interested to hear and we will have an ear out and eye out to what we need to bring to the market to meet customer expectations.

“But some of these things can be put in the pipeline from two to three years away.”

motoring.com.au understands that in this case, Peugeot Citroen Australia is moving to make AEB standard across the range within 12 months.

Currently AEB is not available on the base 3008 Active ($36,990 plus on-road costs or $39,990 drive-away) and is optional on the $39,490 (plus ORCs) Allure. It is standard on the GT-Line ($43,40 plus ORCs) and top-spec GT ($49,490 plus ORCs).

It is the obvious equipment issue for a car that otherwise appears competitively equipped against its two main rivals, which PCA nominates as the Volkswagen Tiguan and Mazda CX-5, both of which come with AEB as standard across the range.

The 3008's AEB (dubbed Active Safety Brake) operates between 5km/h and 140km/h when a moving vehicle is detected, below 80km/h when a stationary vehicle is detected and below 60km/h when a pedestrian is detected.

Apart from AEB, the 3008 Active also misses out on other driver assist systems including advanced driver alert, active lane keeping, adaptive cruise control and active blind-spot detection.

There have been consistent issues throughout the years for different independent importers that have distributed the two PSA Group brands here, including the inability to supply the right drivetrains for the Australian market and deliver the cars at the right price.

Inchcape is adding Peugeot and Citroen to its existing distribution rights for Subaru in Australia, where both brands will be represented by a smaller number of dealers. Senior is talking up both the opportunity and the challenge the new deal represents.

He also has previous history with Peugeot, as he was working for Inchcape when it distributed the brand between 1992 and 2001, before Sime Darby took over.

But Senior said negotiations with the French brand leading up to the April announcement of the deal had demonstrated that fundamental improvements had been made under global PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares.

“Mr Tavares has come into the business three years ago and dramatically changed PSA in terms of its performance, its culture, its model roll-out.

“I have got to say the discussions we have had with PSA have always been on the basis that success is a three-legged stool that requires a partnership between us, and the OEM and the dealer network.

“The discussions were indicative of the change that Mr Tavares has swept through PSA. They were extremely cordial, interested in pricing and product, interested in the profitability of the dealer network.

“We will have the advantage of a representative here 24/7 and I think the success criteria, the building blocks are there.”

Under Tavares PSA has made a stunning financial recovery from near disaster, reporting record profitability in the first half of 2017. It has also just completed the purchase of Opel-Vauxhall from General Motors to make it the second biggest automotive player in Europe behind Volkswagen.

“I would certainly stress the challenge ahead,” added Senior. “But those building blocks together with the product that is very market-focussed, very customer-focussed, gives us a huge amount of optimism.

“I think you don’t go into these things without your eyes wide open. But we are very, very optimistic about the future.”