On March 23, I visited the Citroen Factory in Charge of Producing Citroën Versailles, the Chengdu Plant of Dongfeng Dongfeng. During the interview, it was learned that at present, DPCA has only two vehicle factories responsible for producing full-range models of citroen and Peugeot brands, and an engine factory in Xiangyang. This is a lot from the peak of the production capacity of the previous 5 factories of Shenlong.
At present, the Citroen Chengdu plant is responsible for the production of Citroën Tianyi series, Versailles series, and Peugeot 4008, 5008 a total of four models, and its production plan is generally more than half of the annual sales of the two brands. The advanced level of this factory is relatively prominent, only 7 years into operation, and the local government's support for the construction of the factory is not small, which may be the reason why the Chengdu factory has been retained despite being located outside Hubei.
Versailles is a brand new model launched in 2021, with sales exceeding 4,000 units for three consecutive months from November last year to January this year, which has played a very key role in stabilizing Citroën's sales scale. During my visit to the factory, I also saw a Versailles PHEV model on the production line, which is actually exported to Europe. According to the plan of STELLANTIS (PSA and Fiat after the merger), Versailles is a model exclusively manufactured by Shenlong and sold worldwide, which is also one of the measures originally planned to improve the "health" of Shenlong.
At present, Versailles has just been listed in Europe, about half a year later than the domestic, very popular, but it is worth noting that the Demand for Versailles PHEV models in the European market is greater, and the model has not been launched in China, because the cost is very high, for the three-engine four-wheel drive structure, and the sales price in Europe is also as high as 40,000 euros. At present, the maximum number of Versay exported by the Chengdu plant in a single month has reached 3,000 units, most of which are PHEV models.
At present, the price competitiveness of PSA's plug-in hybrid models in China is general, which is because its architecture tends to be high-performance, all three-engine and four-wheel drive structures, and Tianyi PHEV suspension structure is independent suspension front and rear, so the cost is high and not easy to reduce. And PSA is very insistent on the quality of the models, and there is no compromise on the parts standards on many models, including Versailles and Tianyi. Judging from the factory visit process, there is no difference between the domestic sales of Versailles and the Versailles for Europe in terms of body and interior, and the quality and standards are uniform. This may also be the reason why Citroën riders insist that "people who know how to drive buy Citroën" are the reasons.
For the production of the Chengdu factory of Versailles, the production plan of the day I visited was 350 units, and I speculated that the current production rhythm may be nearly 8,000 units per month.
If you follow the target plan of 150,000 vehicles this year, the target of the DPCA Chengdu plant may be about 80,000 vehicles. Coupled with my estimate of the export part of Versailles of 1,000-2,000 units per month, it is expected that the production target of the Chengdu plant of Shenlong this year may be about 100,000 vehicles, and the monthly production plan should be about 8,000 units, which is still more consistent with the production target seen on the same day. It seems that Citroën and Peugeot have stabilized after last year's efforts.
According to the brand planning that came out some time ago, in the future, DPCA and STELLANTIS Group will focus on a brand in China, of which DPCA will be responsible for the development of Citroën in China, and STELLANTIS will focus on Peugeot, but the share ratio of STELLANTIS and Dongfeng is not expected to change.
In the future, Citroën and Peugeot may have a clear difference in management style, one is more joint venture, the Chinese side has a greater voice, one is more foreign, and STELLANTIS Group has a greater voice. And who will develop better? I hope to see everyone's vote in the comments section.
Text | Zhang Bureau
Figure | Author's live shoot and network