PSA In Bed With China's Changan

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

France’s PSA wants a bigger slice of the growing Chinese pie. They agreed to set up a joint venture with government-owned Changan. Peugeot already has a joint venture with Changan’s rival Dongfeng, while Changan has a joint venture with Ford. Nevertheless, the new JV will “not compete directly with other partnerships,” the companies said in a statement published by Bloomberg.

As intimated before, the JV might use an idle plant in Shenzhen. It was owned by Harbin Hafei Automobile. That company was acquired by Changan last year. There are rumors that PSA might want to get into the light utility vehicle market with Changan, and use that as a jump-off point to India as well. This strategy worked very well for GM. Most of their cars sold in China are small Wuling vans.

In the meantime, Ford “is looking at options to expand its partnership with Changan beyond the terms of the current joint venture the automakers have in China,” Reuters reported.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 2 comments
  • Lilpoindexter Lilpoindexter on May 06, 2010

    I can't wait to see what their cars look like!

  • Mark MacInnis Mark MacInnis on May 06, 2010

    I was disappointed by the visuals for the April sales items...thanks, BS, for throwing us a bone. She makes me hungry for a big slice of....pie...also. On topic, everyone wants to get into the market while the getting is good...before the Chinese government starts putting a cap on the number of vehicles which can be sold in a given year....

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