Peugeot aims for 40% sales jump, mulls taxi assembly

The current South African Peugeot's fleet of 52 000-vehicles strong car parc, all imported, is largely made up of the smaller cars in the Peugeot range, such as the 206 and 307. Minibus taxis make up a very small part of this volume, with around 100 vehicles sold into this market last year. "If we can go to the taxi market in a stronger way, we will do it," Harnie tells Engineering News Online. "If we can do local semi-knockdown assembly, why not? But it is still early days," he says. Government is rolling out a support programme for taxi assembly in South Africa and one way in which PSA hopes to lure buyers to its showroom floors, is by offering a new five-year/100 000 km maintenance, service, roadside assistance and warranty plan as standard with every new passenger car sold.

This aims to restore customers' faith in the Peugeot brand, which is fighting a perception of expensive parts and services, says PSA marketing GM Clara Metivier-Beukes. "[The warranty] will be our unique selling point," she says. "This means that customers will not have to open their wallets in a Peugeot dealership for five years," Harnie says. "There is no 'if', no asterisk. It's all in. You only pay for fuel and tyres." He promises that the launch of the five-year plan has not pushed up the brand's prices, with some cars costing even less than before the programme's introduction. Metivier-Beukes adds that the launch of the new 208 in the fast-growing small-car segment, as well as the introduction of the 4008 compact sports-utility vehicle (SUV) will add to PSA's numbers in 2012.

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