Peugeot auto news

Motorsports: Peugeot debuts new 208 R2 rally car

The FIA's R2 rally class offers factorry-tuned racers at privateer costs. Peugeot has unleashed its 208 R2 in asphalt and gravel versions, powered by a 1.6-liter engine with 185 horsepower and 140 pound-feet running through a five-speed sequential gearbox.

Improvements over the 207 R2 include a bodyshell that's 40 kilos lighter; a new gearbox with reduced weight, quicker shifts and the shifter mounted on the steering column; better gas mileage; a revised Öhlins suspension with three-way adjustable dampers; and more shared parts to enable faster changes between asphalt and tarmac setups.

It will make its debut on May 10 at the Tour de Corse. If you want one, kits can be had for €37,500 ($49,061 U.S.), a turnkey model for €57,500 ($75,227 U.S.). If you just want to check it out, hit the photo gallery and give the press release a once-over.

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Official: Peugeot Urban Crossover Concept barges in to AutoChina

In keeping with the CUV-crazy theme of this year's Beijing Motor Show, Peugeot has introduced this Urban Crossover Concept penned by the French lion's design studios in Paris, Shanghai and São Paulo. Eight inches shorter and three inches narrower than a Ford Focus hatchback, the concept is meant to be the ultimate expression of the company's decades of popular small cars, crossovers and design.

It is also said to show off Pug's new design cues, but we aren't told exactly which cues those are. At the moment, Peugeot isn't talking about what (if anything) powers its UCC, but perhaps we'll learn more as the vehicle continues to make the rounds of the auto show circuit. In the meantime, check out the press release by scrolling below and admire its angles in the high-res gallery.

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First Drive: 2012 Peugeot 208 [w/video]

The challenge of small, efficient and clever hatchbacks catching on with the American masses is a long story that shows infrequent signs of becoming less challenging. The bottom line is that most U.S. consumers feel such vehicles are simply too small for our wide-open-spaces sensibilities. This smallness is only enhanced when one looks around while stopped at American intersections, only to see big and tall sheetmetal in all directions. There are admittedly serious strides being made in this segment in various U.S. markets, usually of the urban variety and on the coasts, but it will always be a struggle.

The last time Peugeot tried directly communicating in American English with imported product was back in 1991 with its 505 and 405 ranges that unceremoniously flopped. There was ongoing talk at that time of bringing over the 205 hatchback to try and improve things, but we missed out and Peugeot was gone. Perhaps the seven percent of PSA Peugeot-Citroën now owned by General Motors will someday result in the importing of the solid hatchback tested here, but I won't hold my breath.

Recently, the new Peugeot 208 was all over the French giant's show stand at the Geneva Motor Show, together with its legendary GTi trim and new XY upmarket trim. Back in 1984, it was the 105-horsepower 205 GTi that established the legend of the French hot hatch. While the 206 was then a smash hit with buyers between 1998 and 2006, the subsequently larger 207 has been far less popular in the face of much improved competitors - a group that blossomed from just 16 different models on the European market in 1998 to now 27 separate hatches today. In its prime, the 206 outsold even the mighty Volkswagen Golf and stayed at the top of Europe's sales charts for a time. The outgoing 207, however, has routinely lingered behind the Volkswagen Golf and Polo, Renault Clio, Opel Astra and Corsa, not to mention the Ford Focus and Fiesta.

Continue reading 2012 Peugeot 208 [w/video]

Official: Peugeot aims for Audi's heartland with RCZ Brownstone edition

As unlikely a rivalry as it might seem, Peugeot has set its sights on Audi. The French automaker may not be going after Audi at Le Mans anymore these days, but its RCZ sports coupe is still eagerly pursuing the Audi TT with the same vigor it has shown since launching two years ago. To take the fight home to Audi's home territory, Peugeot has launched a special-edition RCZ available exclusively in Germany.

Called the Brownstone edition, the special RCZ gets a metallic brown paint job with silver racing stripe, black trim and 19-inch burnished alloys. Inside, the Brownstone is also all brown, with Cohiba leather and Alcantara trim. The special edition also bundles the Sport, Comfort and Xenon packages together into one, and is powered by a 1.6-liter 156-horsepower turbo four. Only 150 examples will be made available for German buyers for €32,650 - equivalent to about $42k at today's exchange rates.

Report: Peugeot-Citro"en raises cash by selling its Paris headquarters

The 48-year-old headquarters is located in Paris' central business district, not far from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees. According to the report, the French carmaker will continue to lease the building from its new owner, Ivanhoe Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of Canadian pension fund management company Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund.

This latest move follows several efforts by PSA Peugeot-Citroën to reduce debt, cut costs and boost profitability. Last fall, it cut 6,000 jobs and in January it pulled out of Le Mans racing. In February, it announced a plan to liquidate assets and agreed to sell a seven-percent stake to General Motors, as part of a new global alliance that could help both car companies trim costs through shared purchasing.

Report: Peugeot suggests expansion of ties with GM into other segments and technology

The ink is only just dry on the contract detailing the collaboration between General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroën, and already there is talk of going further. GM purchased a seven-percent stake in PSA to form an alliance that would work together on platforms, small and midsize cars, and MPVs and crossovers, the aim being to strengthen the positions of PSA and Opel. Plans include moving the Opel Corsa to a Peugeot platform, while the Citroën C5 and Peugeot 508 move to GM platform technology.

Peugeot had announced the €220-million development of a dual-clutch transmission that was to be built at its Valenciennes, France factory but just shuttered the project saying it might get them from GM instead. The company also spoke of developing a new small car with GM for the Latin American market.

Another development has been the rearrangement of factory closures. When the deal was announced analysts said that the real issue for Opel and PSA was surplus plant capacity, but one report in Reuters said that plant closures wouldn't be affected by the tie-up. Apparently that's not the case, with an unnamed source telling Reuters in a second story that plant closures were a piece of the deal from the beginning. Peugeot has announced that it wouldn't produce a new small car at its plant in Madrid, Spain, but it won't detail its plant closures until after the French presidential election later this year.

Video: Top Gear puts Peugeot 207 rally car up against downhill skier in Italy

Leave it up to the Top Gear crew to put this one together. No, not the famous British crew of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May; the staff behind this video of a Peugeot 207 rally car going up against a downhill skier hails from Italy and represents Top Gear Magazine.

Of course, before any downhill festivities can properly commence, the car needs to make its way up the mountain course... and that's when the magic starts to happen, making use of the most serious set of spiked tires we've ever seen.

What goes up, must come down, right? And so down it goes, chasing the Pug's co-pilot, Anna Andreussi, right back down from whence it came. It's all in good fun, with plenty of aerial acrobatics to go along with the expected snow drifting shenanigans. See it all go down yourself in the video below.

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Report: GM stake in Peugeot will cost $423 million

General Motors wants to become the second-largest shareholder in PSA Peugeot Citroen, and the gears of a deal for seven percent of the French automaker are beginning to mesh. It cost General Motors $423 million to buy into PSA, and the companies will remain competitors despite lashing their rafts together.

Both automakers would like to net cost savings over the course of the initial 10-year term of the partnership by leveraging their collective purchasing power for better prices from suppliers and also sharing economies of scale. GM and PSA are also looking to create vehicles, powertrains and/or components together within the next four years. The two companies have already started work on developing a low-cost small car to sell in emerging markets, and GM is looking to hook up with Peugeot's Gefco logistics arm, as well.

Peugeot stock has been forced down in value by the company issuing new shares for General Motors to buy, facilitating the deal. Peugeot has also suspended paying a dividend this year to keep cash on hand, further upsetting shareholders and the market in general. Market watchers suspect that any cost savings may be slow in coming, and there's little detail of how GM and PSA intend to address both companies' overcapacity problem in Europe or how they intend to find compromises with the typically strong labor unions there, as well.

Still, the hopeful need only look to Renault-Nissan for an example of the potential upside. Of course, GM's deal with Fiat, which started in 2000 and ended with a $2 Billion payment in 2005, is a reminder of just one of the ways the bloom could fall off this rose.

Geneva: Peugeot brings the 208 party to Geneva

The successor to the Peugeot 207 line, the 208, made an appearance under the lights of the Geneva Motor Show this week. Buyers in the EU may choose from either the three-door body style you see above or a more functional five-door configuration. Both vehicles feature smaller exterior dimensions than the old 207 but with greater interior volume than their predecessors. Peugeot also shrank the available gasoline engine options in the 208. A 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine serves up a heady 75 horsepower, though consumers looking for a little more grunt may step up to a 1.2-liter three pot good for 100 hp.

All told, the 208 is available in five different configurations, including a range of diesel-powered options that include Peugeot's next-generation stop/start system, which helps return nearly 83.1 mpg on the EU scale. Not too shabby.

Want something a little hotter? How about the Peugeot 208 GTi Concept (above left)? In addition to more aggressive body work, larger brakes and flashier 18-inch alloy wheels, the vehicle packs the same 1.6-liter engine as found in the company's RCZ. That means buyers can expect to find somewhere between 156 and 200 turbocharged horsepower kicking through a six-speed manual transmission. How's that for a win?

Meanwhile, the 208 XY Concept (above right)wears more flash than actual go. With a color-shifting purple paint, unique interior treatments and a 1.6-liter turbo diesel engine, this hatch is meant more for prowling city centers than corner carving.

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Official: GM buys 7% stake in PSA Peugeot Citro"en, creates global platform-sharing alliance

General Motors has finally made a move to help its ailing European operations by tying its fortunes on the continent with those of PSA Peugeot Citroën. The two automakers have agreed to a new global alliance in which GM will buy a seven-percent stake in PSA, thereby making it the European automaker's second largest shareholder behind the Peugeot family itself. The shares won't give GM any governance rights over PSA, and the two companies will remain competitors in Europe.

What the alliance will give each company is the ability to share vehicle platforms, components and modules, as well as stronger purchasing power for sourcing components, raw materials and other goods and services. They're combined annual purchasing volume together will be approximately $125 billion. The vehicle platforms most likely to be shared will be small and midsize passenger cars, MPVs and crossovers, with the first one arriving by 2016.

GM says that synergies resulting from the alliance will save approximately $2 billion annually within about five years, though critics argue the alliance doesn't address the main problem plaguing automakers in Europe: overcapacity. While the alliance does give a shot in the arm to both Opel, GM's European subsidiary, and Peugeot, analysts and investors alike still believe that plant closings and consolidations are the remedy required for Europe's struggling automakers. Full details in the press blast after the jump.

Continue reading GM buys 7% stake in PSA Peugeot Citro"en, creates global platform-sharing alliance