Peugeot is Not Coming to the US

Justin Berkowitz
by Justin Berkowitz

Despite the headline claims of, um, some Motor Authoritative sources , Peugeot is not coming to the United States any time soon. And Canada would be a real stretch. The basis for the claim is that Peugeot is looking to expand the number of markets in which it sells cars, and the French company brass said "with the American dollar being weak, sure, it's possible." But that's not enough. This story comes out every few years , and it's no more true this time around. As much as this writer and probably many other European car lovers would be excited at the prospect of another affordable marque in this country, it's not gonna happen any time soon, or any time not as soon. Americans are still politically not so hot on the French, then there are dealer/service/parts infrastructure issues (namely that there isn't much of anything left from 20 years ago), the added cost of engineering for our emissions and crash standards, and the inconvenient reality that most Americans still aren't truly warmed up to small cars. Not to mention, the current Peugeot lineup is seriously strange.

Justin Berkowitz
Justin Berkowitz

Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.

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  • Verbal Verbal on Aug 27, 2008

    Click and Clack said it best. When it comes to cars, the French copy no one, and no one copies the French.

  • 50merc 50merc on Aug 27, 2008

    menno, that's an incredible list. But there are so many truly obscure brands, I have to wonder if the list includes some marques that never had a formal US sales branch. GI's returning from overseas with their foreign-bought cars might account for a few such rarities.

  • John Horner John Horner on Aug 28, 2008

    Menno, that is a very impressive list. We happen to be visiting in Ireland at this moment and I am greatly enjoying seeing a very different automotive landscape than that of California. Yesterday we saw our first Hummer of the week .... a stretched limo version no less - yuck. Our rental is a Ford Mondeo hatchback which has been an excellent drive. It is, however, a touch big for the narrow roads encountered once off the motorway. Most people are driving small hatchbacks, small wagons and sub Mazda 5 sized minivans. Modern Minis seem to be about a mid-sized car. The Irish are still having lots of children and they get around quite well in vehicles less than 1/2 the volume of the Chevy Suburban. Hopefully Ford will make a go of bringing many of their Euro models to the states as Ford seems highly competitive here. As for Peugeot, why bother? Renault also makes no sense as they can bring any appropriate models in as Nissans already, so why have another mid-market brand?

  • Omaryak Omaryak on Oct 30, 2011

    Peugeot's lineup is strange but beautiful and distinctive. There's a lot of room for a new lineup of cars that can stand apart from the others on the road, in an upscale yet affordable way. Peugeot has been building some larger cars that could do well here, and they could probably compete against Fiat and Smart for the small car market if they opened some boutiques (Tesla-style) in urban centers. One can dream, anyway.

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