PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares said at the Frankfurt Auto Show this week that the company is engineering its next generation of vehicles to meet U.S. regulations as part of its planned return to North America. “That means that from three years down the road we’ll be able to push the button, if we decide to do so, in terms of product compliance vis-a-vis the U.S. regulations,” he said.
Tavares went on to say that PSA has already decided which of its brands — Peugeot, Citroën or upscale DS — will be the first to appear over here, but isn’t ready to announce the decision.
PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares
Previously Tavares said that PSA Group’s return will be a 10-year effort, beginning this past year with partnerships in car-sharing and mobility services.
Our take on the Tavares’ statement at the Frankfurt show is that PSA had nothing to show in new models or concept cars and just wanted to tease us yet again about coming to North America. Of course they are engineering their next generation of vehicles to meet US regulations. All of the international players are doing so, even many of the exclusively Chinese companies. It would be crazy not to develop new cars to worldwide standards. If PSA ever come back to the US in a meaningful way, they are going to find a whole new breed of competitors, and without the distinctive engineering and design that Citroën once had, they are going to be just another product in the same mix as everyone else.
This Frankfurt announcement by Tavares was such a non-event that PSA Group weren’t even prepared to reveal which brand will come over here. We highly doubt that even the brand decision is cast in stone at this point.