The French car manufacturer, Peugeot is planning on making a comeback to the Indian car market. The company has hired a consultancy firm recently to do a feasibility study on the same.
This development on its passenger cars operations was expected, as earlier this year 51 per cent of its two-wheeler arm was acquired by Mahindra. The presence of its two-wheeler arm in the country will give the company a head start. Interestingly, before it makes a comeback to the car segment, it will first watch the performance of its two-wheeler branch which is expected to start India operations later this year or early 2016. It plans to start its car operations in India by 2020. But all this will depend on the market study that is currently going on and is expected to finish by the end of this year.
"The plan is to have the entire group's presence in India right from two-wheelers, passenger vehicles to light commercial vehicles in the medium term. Immediate focus will be on two-wheelers, and with the help of Mahindra & Mahindra, the company will try to establish its presence by 2017 and build Peugeot brand, before expanding to passenger vehicles by 2020," said someone close to the development to ET.
Peugeot was one of the first global car manufacturers to set up a base in India, when the government opened up investment to foreign companies. However, it had partnered with Premier automotive firm, a deal which later fell apart due to differences between them.
We hope the company starts its India operations as early as possible, as we would love to have another global car manufacturer offering their entire range of products in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
