AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/09 Report--

Earlier, foreign media reported that Dongfeng was interested in selling its 12.2% stake in Peugeot Citroen and held talks to explore related transaction forms.

It is said that negotiations on the sale of the stake are still at an early stage and it is uncertain whether an agreement can be reached. Dongfeng Motor will negotiate with Peugeot Citroen when it plans to reduce its stake in order to maintain the mode of cooperation between the two sides.

The sale of its stake in PSA would be good for Dongfeng because its Peugeot Citroen project has been losing money and Peugeot Citroen sells much less in China than in other overseas markets, analysts said.

For this news, some media verified the relevant person in charge of corporate communication in PSA China and the Asia-Pacific region, and the other side said that the news was a rumor, and that no relevant information had been obtained internally, and that the sale of PSA shares was false and did not make any comments on the "rumor."

No matter whether the news is a rumor or not, judging from the current development of PSA in China, PSA's market share in China is shrinking, and it is revealed that it is reasonable for PSA to sell its shares in PSA.

In terms of sales volume, the total sales of PSA in China and Southeast Asia fell to 64100 vehicles in the first half of this year from 162900 last year, a sharp drop of 62.1% compared with the same period last year. For the Chinese market, the decline in market sales will further expand.

DPCA, PSA's largest joint venture, sold only 63000 vehicles in China in the first half, meeting its sales target of 26.8 per cent.

In the first half of this year, Changan Peugeot, a joint venture between Changan and PSA, produced only 102 cars, and factory capacity utilization fell below 1 per cent. Peugeot-Citroen, a joint venture between PSA and Dongfeng Motor, has a successful capacity utilization rate of only 22%.

While sales in the Chinese market continue to decline and a lot of capacity is idle, PSA sales in the European market have been growing steadily. The data show that PSA has made gains in the UK, Germany, France and Spain.

The steady development of PSA in Europe, to some extent, offsets the sluggish development of the European market, and provides more choices for the Chinese market. Some analysts said that Dongfeng Motor is unlikely to sell PSA shares, and its factory capacity utilization is low or it will use contract manufacturing and vehicle export to achieve capacity optimization.

It is undeniable that in the current depressed environment of the automobile market, there are not a few car companies that have seen a decline in sales and revenue. For Dongfeng Motor and PSA Group joint venture, how to optimize capacity utilization has become an urgent problem for both sides when sales and car market can not pick up in a short period of time. Of course, brand image, product power, product layout and other aspects are also urgent problems for both sides to face.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat