Peugeot is a long way off from its ambitious target of selling 4 million units annually by the end of the decade. This year its sales projects put it at 2 million, but chief executive Jean-Philippe Collin has a plan in place to reach the targets set out by parent company PSA.
The plan involves expansion on two fronts. Firstly, Peugeot plans on developing new models to compete in segments where it currently does not compete. Collin figures the French automaker currently competes in 72% of market segments, but wants to get that figure up to 90%. Despite Peugeot's sportscar racing program, the company is not prepared to build a pure sportscar any more hardcore than the upcoming 308 RC Z sports-coupe. It is pursuing government funding to develop a diesel-hybrid drivetrain, however, which might be key to its expansion.
Peugeot is also planning on pursuing new markets, namely in China, Russia and South America. However, while a return to the North American market is being considered, especially in light of the weak American dollar, Collin maintains that such a move would still be several years off.
Click above for a hi-res gallery of the Peugeot RC...
With the semi-annual auto salon returning to Paris this fall, you can expect France's major automakers to make a big splash this year. Peugeot is preparing to unveil a new concept car, and has given us a bit of a heads-up in the form of a few images and some teasingly cryptic details.
With the name of the actual car not yet released, Peugeot is referring to the show car as the RC, adopting the same thematic nomenclature as the RC Spade and RC Diamond concepts from 2002 and the 908RC concept sedan from the last Paris Motor Show in 2006. Like those concepts, this one is not meant to directly preview a production car in the pipeline. However, it does foreshadow Peugeot's new design direction. The four-door concept's styling melds smooth flowing lines and sharp creases to make for a stunning shape, and moves the huge lion emblem farther south, not unlike the Audi R8's grille. The echoes of Ingolstadt aren't new for Peugeot, with many asserting that the 308 RC Z borrowed too heavily from the Audi TT. As for propulsion, Peugeot insists that "respect for the environment and driving pleasure can be compatible", and so have fitted the RC with an unspecified hybrid powertrain producing a maximum of 313 hp and emitting only 109 g/km of CO2 in gasoline mode and, of course, zero in electric.
Check out the press release after the jump and the gallery below to view the teaser shots of the upcoming Peugeot hybrid concept, and stay tuned as we close in on the Paris show for more details.
As we reported yesterday, Peugeot was clearly the fastest in qualifying for this weekend's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The record-setting runs of all three 908 HDi diesel-powered LMP1 cars places Peugeot's entire field of entries 1-2-3 on the starting grid. That's impressive considering two of Peugeot's car crashed during the past two weeks of practice. Audi is hoping that its team's experience, quicker pit stops and more fuel efficient R10 LMP1 cars will eventually carry it past the Peugeots, despite starting fourth, fifth and seventh on the 55-car grid. And thanks to the speed of Lola Aston Martin driver Stefan Mücke whose petrol-powered car earned the sixth spot on the starting grid, not all the front runners will be diesel-powered.
As for classes other than LMP1, the next fastest LMP2 class was dominated by the Porsche Spyders not surprisingly, while LMGT1 is being led by the #63 Corvette Racing C6.R. The Corvettes will be chased this year by the particularly fast #50 Larbre Competition Saleen S7 and some slower but determined Aston Martin DBR9s from Aston Martin Racing. Finally, LMGT2 will be another great battle between Porsches and Ferraris, with the #76 Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on pole for the class. Remember the amazing GT2 class finish of last year's race between Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo in a Ferrari 430GT? If not, watch it again here as a reminder of why Le Mans is absolutely amazing. Also check out this great post at UltimateCarPage that has a detailed breakdown of all 55 cars with an image of each one and a list of their drivers.
The 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place this weekend, and just like last year, Audi and Peugeot will be duking it out in front with their diesel-powered LMP1 cars. The Audi R10 is a proven race machine, both durable and fast, but the Peugeot 908 has often times proved faster. Late yesterday at the first qualifying session for the endurance race, the 908 proved to be the fastest by far when it shattered the lap record at Le Mans by 7.8 seconds! The car was being driven by French driver Stephane Sarrazin, who man-handled the 908 around the track in 3 minutes and 18.513 seconds. A truly amazing feat, though what's more incredible is that the next five fastest times also beat the previous lap record, two of which were Audi R10s. Unfortunately, the second and third fastest times behind the fastest Peugeot 908 were two more Peugeot 908s. The Peugeot cars are clearly faster than the Audis so far in qualifying, but that was the case last year and Audi pulled out a win just like it has the past four years in a row. Unlike the Le Mans Series races where Peugeot has won the first three races so far this year, Le Mans is about endurance and Audi has proven seven out of the last eight years that it can last longer than the rest.
Le Mans has seen its fair share of spectacular crashes, perhaps most notably the Mercedes CLR-GTR that caught air and did several flips before landing outside the guard rail back in 1999. While not as outrageous as the Mercedes, Peugeot caught some air as well this past weekend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans test when Marc Gene lost control of his 908 Hdi and hit the wall at over 120 mph. Luckily, Gene was able to walk away from the crash and will be able to drive in the race in less than two weeks. Footage from the crash can be seen after the jump.
BMW and PSA teamed up to produce the 1.6-liter four-cylinder currently found in the R56 MINI Cooper, but according to an interview with BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer, the four-pot will also find its way into the BMW 1-series. The pre-release of his interview in the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung didn't divulge which models would benefit from the four-cylinder engine, whether it will be available in both naturally aspirated or turbocharged guise or what markets in which it will be sold.
Reithofer also mentioned that the next generation 7-series, due to be released later this year, would be equipped with a new hybrid drivetrain. No timeframe was outlined as to when the hybrid 7 would be released, but when it is (likely next year), it's expected to be the mild-hybrid, co-developed with Daimler, originally shown on the X5 Vision EfficientDynamics concept.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Peugeot 308 RC Z Coupe Concept
Originally expected to be announced a while back at the Geneva Motor Show, Peugeot has finally officially announced today at the Lisbon Motor Show that the attractive RC Z concept will go into production. Using styling cues from the Audi TT and the classic Karmann Ghia, we think that Peugeot could have a winner on its hands with its new sporty coupe. While Peugeot has not yet announced details on what will be offered underhood of the production machine, the concept used a version of the Mini's 1.6 liter turbo four. We'll be getting all of the details within time, as the official production version will be unveiled in 2009 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. European buyers will have first crack at the RC Z when it goes on sale in the sprint of 2010.
Click above to view the 1,000,000th Peugeot 207 in high resolution
It has only been two years since Peugeot introduced the 207, and already the French automaker has produced over 1 million examples of the new car. The car hit the market in April 2006 with the three- and five-door hatchbacks, and has since rolled out in convertible, wagon and several sport models.
Last year alone Peugeot sold half a million new 207s, which are manufactured at three plants across Europe – in France, Slovakia and Spain – with a combined rate of 2,500 vehicles per day. In a segment crowded with over 70 different models, the 207 has emerged as the market leader. Its "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" success has been driven in part by the double Intercontinental Rally Challenge titles that the 207 Super 2000 took last year, mirroring its big brother 908 HDi's success in Le Mans racing.
With six employee suicides in the past 18 months, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen thinks it may have a stress problem. While experts have found no direct link between the suicides and work stress, one in five PSA employees has reported feeling extreme pressure at work, and many feel that there isn't enough time in the day to get their work done.
To ease some of the stress on its 114,000 employees, PSA has implemented several initiatives to help workers get relief from tension. It's is trying everything from reducing the size of manufacturing teams and keeping managers on a particular job longer to establishing a 24-hour hotline for employee counseling. PSA has taken the issue so seriously that the French automaker is going to the extraordinary step of hiring an additional 500 workers to help ease the heavy workload. With 26 new models launching in the next year, PSA workers will need all the stress management they can get. Hopefully that Citroen grille goes away with the new models, that thing stresses us out and we don't even work there.
As we mentioned yesterday, Audi and Peugeot have been locked in a battle of lap times all week at Sebring Raceway in preparation for the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race on Saturday. In yesterday's practice sessions, Audi turned in a very fast lap of 1:43.195s that would eventually earn it the pole position. Peugeot answered Audi's effort later in the day, however, during the actual qualifying session for the race that would determine the starting grid. The 908 HDi driven by Stephane Sarrazin crushed Audi's top lap in practice with a time of 1:43:117s, which effectively secured Peugeot the pole position.
Unfortunately for Peugeot, fate stepped in and bitch slapped the French automaker's racing team. Welcome to America, guys. Just nine minutes after the qualifying session began and after the 908 HDi had recorded its fast lap, the No. 8 Mazda was involved in an accident bad enough to cancel the session entirely. ALMS rules state that a minimum of ten minutes must be run in a qualifying session for it to count. Therefore, Peugeot's fastest lap time was thrown out. Since the nine-minute long qualifying session couldn't be counted, organizers used lap times from earlier in the day during practice sessions in which Audi set the fastest lap time mentioned above.
Thus, your starting grid for the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring will be Audi and Peugeot on the front row, with another Audi in the first spot of the second row. Both teams obviously view what transpired yesterday very differently. Read the press releases from both Audi and Peugeot after the jump to see how they really feel about each other.
Peugeot is a long way off from its ambitious target of selling 4 million units annually by the end of the decade. This year its sales projects put it at 2 million, but chief executive Jean-Philippe Collin has a plan in place to reach the targets set out by parent company PSA.
With six employee suicides in the past 18 months, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen thinks it may have a stress problem. While experts have found no direct link between the suicides and work stress, one in five PSA employees has reported feeling extreme pressure at work, and many feel that there isn't enough time in the day to get their work done. 
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