Currently reading: DS to lead PSA Group into the US and other markets
PSA wants its cars to be sold in 200 of the world's most important cities and believes its luxury brand is the one to lead the charge

The newly separated DS brand looks set to take the PSA Group into new markets, with development boss Eric Apode admitting that his desire to see DS regarded as a global premium brand means expanding into new sales territories as part of the long-term strategy.

The most obvious of these would be the US; both Peugeot and Citroën sell cars in some South American countries, but neither has imported into the US since Peugeot’s withdrawal in 1991. Although Apode is careful to say there are no immediate plans to head back there, he admitted at an event in France that “wherever there is a premium market we want to be… we have proposed a strategy to be in the 200 most important cities in the world and in the future we will clearly be targeting those cities”.

PSA Group confirms return to North American car market

PSA recently announced its re-entry to the US market, which will take 10 years to implement. However, starting in 2017, it will enter the US as a “mobility provider”, essentially providing car-sharing schemes, albeit not necessarily with Peugeot, Citroën or DS products.

DS has committed to launching six new models by 2020, with Apode confirming that this will mean an end to the creation of separate versions for different markets such as the current China-only DS models. He admitted that it would “make a great deal of sense” for at least one of those forthcoming models to be an SUV and also hinted that he sees electric mobility as being part of the brand’s future. “it is a technology that we want to be involved in I would say,” he said.

DS E-Tense Concept out in Paris after boss hints at production

Momentum for the electric E-Tense supercar concept first shown at this year’s Geneva motor show is also building. The car was demonstrated on the streets of Paris earlier this month, suggesting the car maker is gauging public response before deciding if the model will make production.

PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares has also recently dropped a further hint that the E-Tense supercar could make it to production by 2021.

Mike Duff

Mike Duff
Title: Contributing editor

Mike has been writing about cars for more than 25 years, having defected from radio journalism to follow his passion. He has been a contributor to Autocar since 2004, and is a former editor of the Autocar website. 

Mike joined Autocar full-time in 2007, first as features editor before taking the reins at autocar.co.uk. Being in charge of the video strategy at the time saw him create our long running “will it drift?” series. For which he apologies.

He specialises in adventurous drive stories, many in unlikely places. He once drove to Serbia to visit the Zastava factory, took a £1500 Mercedes W124 E-Class to Berlin to meet some of its taxi siblings and did Scotland’s North Coast 500 in a Porsche Boxster during a winter storm. He also seems to be a hypercar magnet, having driven such exotics as the Koenigsegg One:1, Lamborghini SCV12, Lotus Evija and Pagani Huayra R.

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