Official: Peugeot comes back to India as Peugeot-Citroen

2011 Citroen C5 Sedan

After endless speculation as to will it or won’t it set shop in India, French Automaker Peugeot-Citroen has finally made up it’s mind to script an Indian comeback. The last car that Peugeot produced in India was the Peugeot 309 GL and 309GLD in association with Premier Automobiles Limited. While the car struggled to find takers in the Indian market, it was a terrific drive for it’s time and yours truly had a chance of driving the 65 Bhp TUD5 Diesel engined, well engineered beast for a few kilometers a few years ago. Despite it’s age of over a decade, the 309GLD handled well and took on the bad roads with aplomb.

The petrol engine of the 309 GL displaced 1369cc and produced about 80 Bhp, which was quite a lot. Remember, we’re talking about 1995. Somehow the 6 Lakh rupee car never sold well and finally with Premier Automobiles biting the dust, the Peugeot 309 also went down as one of the better cars sold in India. Ramble apart, Peugeot should have learnt it’s lessons after a failed first foray in India and with the Indian car market and the car buyer alike, having evolved and matured rapidly over the years, Peugeot-Citroen might require a really stiff challenger to give it a decent shot in the super competitive Indian car market.

Peugeot-Citroen is talking about bringing in a sedan to kick start it’s second innings in India and that car could most probably be the Citroen C5 Sedan. This, as Peugeot-Citroen were in talks with ARAI to homologate both the 307 Hatchback as well as the C5 Sedan. C5 The Citroen C5 comes with both petrol and diesel engine options and will take on cars like the Maruti Kizashi, the Skoda Superb and the Honda Accord. The big question is where would Peugeot-Citroen set shop in India. Our friends at BSMotoring seem to be suggesting a location in Andhra Pradesh. Watch this space.

Via TheEconomicTimes

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