Peugeot and Iran. They're Staying Together

by Cammy Corrigan

October 18th, 2010 1:48 PM

peugeot and iran they re staying together

Whilst doing my usual scan of today’s news I saw an article which made me do a double take. And I mean a proper “Whaaaaaaaaat?!” I saw a couple of interesting things in it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then I saw who published it. The Tehran Times. So, treat this story with a pinch of salt.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the Iranian government was threatening to put the thumbscrews on Peugeot’s Iranian subsidiary. Possibly in an attempt to show the world how these global sanctions mean very little to them. Well, according to The Tehran Times, the Iranian government has nothing but a good friend in Peugeot.

They report that Jean-Marc Gales, an executive vice president and member of the managing board with PSA Peugeot-Citroen, has given Iran his vote of confidence. “We will proudly continue as before to do business with our Iranian partner,” he said (or “claimed” as the Tehran Times writes). First surprising thing: The French sticking two fingers up at global sanctions. That’s some ballsy stuff to say! (But then: Who was in Iraq before America moved in?)

The article then claims the second surprising element. That Iran represents 20 percent of Peugeot’s global sales. 20 percent?! That’s a lot.

Mr Gales then went on to discuss the need to increase exports of cars through Iran using the recent credit crisis as justification. “The crisis mostly troubled the U.S and Europe. Countries like Iran had no problem in this regard.” he said, “For this reason, Iran’s potential in the global market is significant and we would be content to expand our global market in the framework of enhancing our partnership.”

My first thought to all of this was that the Tehran Times wrote this story, hoping that it’ll give bad press to PSA around the world. Thereby, tightening the thumbscrews on PSA even further. But if it is all within context and accurate, I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t expect Peugeot (or Citroen) in America any time soon. I doubt they’ll be welcome there.

#CammyCorrigan #France #IranKhodro #Iran.Peugeot

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 15 comments

Tricky Dicky on Oct 19, 2010

Reminds me of an intensive French course I was doing in the Belgian town of Spa Bertel. I had to read a list of words which were identical in English and French to my tutor (who just happened to be both young, beautiful and on her own with me in my hotel room/ study area), to improve my vocab and pronounciation. I'd done the A words, and the B words and was making good progress on my Cs. Then I stopped and nearly choked. "Aah, you eez a tee-pee-kul man. Yew alweez miss ze blewdy clitoris!" Embarassed. Much. Stingray: I just don't think your comments critique what was said in the article. Maybe you could have pointed out that PSA don't own IKCO, that IKCO are only responsible for less than 1% of PSA's revenues. The background to the conflict between the parties is that PSA is a major supplier to OKCO, who themselves are looking to expand production internally within Iran and to other Islamic countries. The government intervention was surely only a technique to apply negotiating pressure on behal;f of a 'national industry, as is usually the case when gov'ts get involved in business.

Like Reply
- Stingray on Oct 19, 2010
  
  My friend, I have solid reasons to call the bovine stuff on both articles, where it applies. And so I think I did.
  
  Like
Kitzler on Oct 19, 2010

To Bertel Schmitt, du hast alles gut verstanden, and to Tricky Dicky, c'est marrant de pouvoir s'amuser comme ca!

Like Reply

Recent Comments

SCE to AUX Historically, the Land Cruiser sold ~3000 units annually in the US for its last 15 years, so the answer is no.
Theflyersfan Oh boy - the sequential manual transmission. Otherwise known as "Your 16 year old driving stick the first time is smoother" transmission. I know automakers were trying new things out around this time and seeing what would stick (hint: the dual clutches won out), but even in testing, the Toyota engineers should have said いいえ、ジャンクです。(No. It's a piece of junk.) Is this seller going to get $8500? Doubt it. Way too much interior work is needed and it just looks worn out in there. St. Petersburg - salt air year round can do some wonders under the cover as well. But the exterior still looks good which makes me thing it was garage kept. So, for $8,500 - no chance. But for maybe $5,500 to $6,000 and the buyer doesn't mind some extra work to clean up the interior, maybe a decent top down sun down fun car. Just hope the transmission holds up.
Dukeisduke Only if there's a significant price difference between it and the Lexus GX. Otherwise, no. If they do bring it over, they'll have to ditch that ugly grille.
Theflyersfan Chris here just gave me a big old dose of nightmare fuel with this. Let me explain... This past Saturday, driving home after doing some furniture shopping. I-64 Westbound is closed for extensive repairs in my part of Louisville so I had to take surface streets home. No problem as it's basically a straight shot from said furniture store to my domicile. Now, I had that recent spinal fusion surgery in my neck complete with four screws, some plates, artificial bone, and the chance that things might not have healed correctly so things are a bit tender and sore still. Driving home in a part of the area named St. Matthews when I pass a Walgreens. Barreling out of this Walgreens and totally ignoring the stop sign, and situational awareness of ANYTHING around him is a truck, very similar to the one shown above. Same color even. It's a four lane road - main drag through town. I'm in the inside lane and this 7,000 pound monstrosity is suddenly feet from turning an MX-5 into shrapnel. Top is down, had my wits, quickly downshift and manage to do a wild u-turn like move into the oncoming traffic lanes but avoided the hit. The neck, however, didn't like the strain and trauma and sent parts of my body into fits of limited sensations and pain. The truck driver, realizing what he's done suddenly stops. My top is down, windows are down, and we make eye contact as I pull alongside the person I have suddenly wished death on inside a flaming pit. And if I repeat the sentences of what was yelled at that jack***es face, I'll be on insta-ban here in milliseconds. He yells over, "Man, I'm sorry...I didn't see ya!" Well, ***face, learn what a stop sign means and scan the scene first. And get something that you can see over and in front instead of the blind spots that hide everyone under the age of 14 in front of the truck. So, I'm all for forcing these overdone, oversized, overfed, overstyled, guzzling, tiny-genital compensating redneck wannabe road monsters taken out back and put to rest and we return to normalcy. Made it home hurting like hell and tests were done today to check for further injury. And that Mazda can turn and spin on a dime... Try that move in that Sierra AT4XBZQZW8! whatever.
Dukeisduke I've read stories about that air suspension system - insanely high pressures, and crazy expensive to repair. I loved the Mark VIII's styling back then, but it definitely hasn't aged well.Also:"Mark VII was the first Mark available with dual front airbags..." Did you mean Mark VIII?