PSA Peugeot plays down move to China
French car-maker PSA Peugeot Citroen says it wants to make cars destined for the Chinese market in China. But the company insists that it has no plans to build the successor to its Citroen C6 saloon model there.
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On Monday, PSA announced that it would build its third plant in China, its second most important market overall. Auto sales in China reached over 9 million in the first half of 2010, a year-on-year rise of 48 per cent.
In reponse to reports that construction of the high-end C6 model, currently made in Rennes, would be moved to China, PSA spokesman Hugues Dufour said this was not the the company's plan.
"The group's strategy in China is to build for the chinese market and to strengthen our model range with cars in the mid and upper mid-range such as the C5. which we have already launched in China and the 508 which we will launch in 2011," he said.
He added that PSA plans a dozen new models for China over the next five years.
Western and Japanese auto firms all have major plants and interests in China because of the country's largest and fastest growing auto market.
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