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According to the Daily Business News, citing insiders, Citroen will adjust its internal structure, with its Peugeot brand dominated by France and Citroen brand dominated by China. In response to this report, DPCA responded: "at present, both shareholders are still negotiating, DPCA's share ratio will not be adjusted, but the internal division of labor may change."

Data show that DPCA was founded on May 18, 1992, jointly funded by Dongfeng Motor and Peugeot Citroen, headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei Province. From the point of view of time, it is not too late for DPCA to be founded, and 2022 happens to be the 30th anniversary of DMC, which is the critical moment to determine its fate. From the perspective of relevant responses, the internal structure of DPCA may be adjusted, but it has not yet been decided.

As the first joint venture to enter the Chinese market, DPCA has had glorious moments. It has mass-produced well-known models such as Fukang and reached an annual sales peak of 700000 vehicles, which is also a popular car brand. However, with the intensification of market competition, coupled with the slow iteration of product updates and other reasons, Dragon Motor gradually faded out of the market. Relevant data show that DPCA continued to decline after reaching a peak of 704800 vehicles in 2016, falling by 15.2%, 36.85%, 32.89%, 55.17% and 55.74% respectively from 2015 to 2020, halving sales for two consecutive years.

In September 2019, DMC launched a "yuan" plan to change persistently sluggish sales and performance, but the decline in sales of its brands continued to expand due to the impact of the 2020 epidemic in Wuhan. In October 2020, DPCA released the "Yuan +" plan, which began to revive with the slogan "products are more Chinese, marketing is more accurate, service is more reliable, and operation is more efficient". Data show that DPCA sold a total of 100567 vehicles in 2021, an increase of 100.07% over the same period last year. However, although sales have doubled compared with 2020, the recovery has not been successful and the road is long.

At its peak, DPCA had a planned capacity of one million, but at present, the annual sales of only 100000 vehicles are very different, and the capacity utilization is seriously insufficient, so it is imperative to deal with excess capacity. It is understood that DPCA will sell a factory in 2019, and a few days ago, according to domestic media reports, DPCA II plant has been officially taken over by Dongfeng Honda and will be transformed into a pure electric car factory. Both sides confirmed the news. At present, DPCA has only two production bases, the third factory in Wuhan and the fourth factory in Chengdu.

From the perspective of the future, the revival of DPCA still depends on products, and according to the "Yuan +" plan, DPCA will build and launch 14 new models within 5 years to achieve a comprehensive upgrade of the product matrix.

DPCA owns two brands: Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen. Dongfeng Peugeot has Peugeot 408, Peugeot 508L, Peugeot 2008, Peugeot 4008, Peugeot 5008 and other models, although there are many products, but there is no popular style. Taking the retail sales data for 2021 as an example, the highest sales volume was Peugeot 408 with 13086 vehicles, followed by Peugeot 4008 with 9495 vehicles, and Peugeot 508L with 8150 vehicles with less than 5000 vehicles. However, according to related reports, Dongfeng Peugeot will introduce a new generation of Peugeot 308 this year, becoming the first Peugeot model with a new logo, while the new Peugeot 308 will also change its positioning from a hatchback to a hatchback, while innovating in appearance and interior to enhance product competitiveness. At present, DPCA has applied for the design patent of Peugeot 308 to the national knowledge patent technology, and it is basically certain that the new generation of Peugeot 308 will be made in China.

Dongfeng Citroen owns Tianyi C5 AIRCROSS, Citroen C6, C3L C3L, Citroen C3-XR, Versailles C5X and other models, of which Versailles is the latest model launched by Dongfeng Citroen, with a total sales of 12140 vehicles in the four months on the market, the rising star is expected to promote the development of the Citroen brand. In addition to the Versailles C5X, for example, the Tianyi C5 AIRCROSS sold 10607 vehicles last year, followed by the Citroen C3-XR with 9345 and the Citroen C6 with 7549.

Chen Bin, general manager of DPCA, said that in the future development strategy, DPCA will stop expanding its sales network. "instead of blindly developing the network, we will focus on moving forward with these 350 partners." Chen Bin said that the current strategy of DPCA is to improve their profitability by providing strong support to dealers in all aspects. "only when profits increase, will they invest and develop on a rolling basis."

For Dragon, there is still a long way to go to get the company back on the track, and maintaining the stability of dealers is only the first step. Under the pressure of independent brands and mainstream joint venture brands, the living space of marginal joint venture brands such as Shenlong has been further squeezed, and it is not easy to revive brand image and reputation. At present, DPCA's "Yuan +" plan has achieved certain results, and the measures of internal division of labor that are being adjusted are also highly expected by the market, and whether DPCA, as a representative of legal car companies, can be born after Jedi is also worthy of attention.

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