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Car manufacturer Peugeot Citroen (EU:UG) announces a European sales fall of 16.5% 2012.
Peugeot Citroen has announced that their European sales are down by 16.5% in 2012, though sales in China were up by 7.2% and 10.1% in Russia.
The French based firm saw a worldwide sales fall of 8.8%, down to 2,820,000 units, citing “decidedly missed trends” in the worldwide car sector and their decision to suspend sales of their CKD products in Iran due to the tightening of international sanctions towards the rouge state.
In 2011 the Peugeot Citroen, which reported revenue of 59.912bn euros and an operating profit of 1.315bn euros, is Europe’s second-largest car manufacturer based in Europe.
Following the announcement of the fall in production the firm saw a 0.72% increase to 6.26 points on the Euronext exchange, after opening at 6.198, almost ten points lower than the firm’s 12 month high of 17.39 in February 2012.
Commentating on the firm’s sales slump Peugeot Citroen Frédéric Saint-Geours, Exectutive Vice-President for Brands, argued that the firm had “felt the full force of the sustainable decline in Europe’s automobile markets. This situation makes our international strategy more necessary than ever” but that they stepped up “global expansion in 2012 and will continue in 2013, with a growing presence in China, Latin America and Russia”.
Expecting a difficult European economic climate in 2013, with an EU contraction of between 3-5%, Peugeot Citroen argue that the sales figures will rise due to “the largest number of new Peugeot and Citroën models ever coming to market in a single year”, with a particular focus on Hybrid4 vehicles and some of Europe’s lowest carbon emission producing cars.
In light of declining European sales figures Peugeot Citroen intend to prioritise non-European markets for future growth and have set a target of achieving 50% of sales outside Europe by the end of 2015
