Not content with taking second place for sales in Europe, Peugeot have an eye on global domination from solid foundations says the company’s CEO.

Speaking to Autocar this week, Peugeot’s ambitious leader Linda Jackson said that while they were happy with sales in Europe, it was strengthening their grip in other territories that will lead to growth.

Peugeot finished a distant second to Volkswagen in Europe for vehicle sales in 2021. VW shifted 1.08 million units compared to the 649,514 sold by Peugeot, and Jackson is keen to do much better.

“We always want to do better,” she said. “We’re in this game to win. We believe we have great products. But it’s a long way to go to number one and I have a lot of respect for [VW].”

While much of the industry has stagnated in the past two years due to pandemic lockdowns, supply-chain issues and semiconductor shortages, Jackson underlines the point that in many regions the company has done well, but they will continue to emerge, with strong customer service at the forefront of their strategy.

“Twenty per cent of [Peugeot] sales are outside Europe. We have a real opportunity to grow – while, of course, not reducing our footprint in Europe – particularly across South America, the Middle East and Africa, as well as rebuilding in China.”

“We’re very strong on product and I want us to be very strong on customer experience, whether that’s dealerships, websites – all the customer touchpoints. That’s a real focus for us.

“Our positioning is towards the upper part of the mainstream, which means not only excellent products but also excellent customer service.”

The French company, part of the Stellantis Group, will be hopeful that their mid-range SUV offerings of the 2008, 3008 can push them further up the sales charts, while their e-208 is also looking strong in the EV market. But Jackson remains conservative for the short-term, with no plans for the rumoured 4008 anytime soon.

“We work on a core model strategy – that is, key models in the volume profit pool. Peugeot is very fortunate to have representation in most of the key profit pools. I am very happy with what we have.

“The one model we have added, but not for Europe, is the Landtrek pick-up, specifically for Africa, the Middle East and South America, where the pick-up market is enormous.”

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