Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile begins construction of a fourth plant in China

Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile (DPCA) laid the cornerstone for its fourth plant in Chengdu, China today to support its sales growth in China.

Attending the ceremony alongside Carlos Tavares, chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën, and Xu Ping, chairman of Dongfeng Motors, were Grégoire Olivier, executive vice-president Asia of PSA Peugeot Citroën, Liu Wei Dong, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Motors, Jean Mouro, executive vice-president of DPCA, Qiu Xian Dong, general manager of DPCA and representatives of Sichuan province and the city of Chengdu.

With total capacity of 360,000 vehicles a year at full ramp-up, DPCA’s fourth plant will build Dongfeng Citroën, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Fengshen-badged vehicles, primarily for the SUV and MPV segments. The first car is scheduled to roll off the line in late 2016.

DPCA’s current production base comprises three plants in Wuhan,which are running on two shifts for total potential capacity of 750,000 units a year. With the fourth plant, production capacity will be lifted to more than one million units a year in 2016. This is a major step towards meeting the Back in the Race plan’s objective of selling one million Peugeot and Citroën vehicles in China in 2017.

Last 28 March, Dongfeng and PSA Peugeot Citroën signed a global strategic partnership with the objective of selling 1.5 million vehicles by 2020.

In the first nine months of 2014, DPCA sold 518,000 vehicles in China, an increase of 30% in a market up 11%. DPCA’s full-year objective is to sell more than 700,000 vehicles in China.

Commenting on the ceremony, Carlos Tavares said:“Construction of the Chengdu plant is a key step in PSA’s development in China, which is the Group’s largest market. This plant will allow DPCA to keep pace with its fantastic sales growth. Our joint venture is expected to sell more than 700,000 vehicles in 2014.”

With its three brands, Peugeot, Citroën and DS, PSA Peugeot Citroën sold 2.8 million vehicles worldwide in 2013, of which 42 percent outside Europe. The second largest carmaker in Europe, PSA Peugeot Citroën recorded sales and revenue of €54 billion in 2013. PSA Peugeot Citroën has sales operations in 160 countries. It is also involved in financing activities (Banque PSA Finance) and automotive equipment (Faurecia).