It won’t take as long to drive a French car in America, but we won’t need to.
We reported a while back, along with almost every automotive website, that Peugeot was planning to return to the American marketplace in 2026. We spend a lot of time writing about egg-shaped crossovers and are excited to see the French automaker return to America.
Driver and Car reported the latest news. They gleaned it from the Wall Street Journal. After initially forecasting 2026, Peugeot boss Carlos Tavares shifted his prediction up by a few years.
This is interesting for two reasons. We won’t have as long to wait to see Peugeot here, which is exciting. We’ll also know what to expect: the cars we’ll get in 2023 will be the same as the ones we bought in Europe.
Although we thought we would be excited about next-generation cars at first, it is not true. Tavares stated, “What we can bring to America is based upon everything you see today.”
It is believed that the success of focus groups with American consumers and current products may be partly to blame. Peugeot will launch more or less with a complete lineup of products, rather than a handful of niche products. Peugeot will face many of the same European competitors, and success is not guaranteed.
Peugeot will have to deal with a smaller dealer network initially. Peugeot will allow potential buyers to purchase cars online without the need for a dealer, and still give owners the opportunity to test drive the vehicles. It was not clear how this would work, nor how the service would be done.
We appreciate Tavares enthusiasm to bring these French cars to America. There’s nothing more American than good old competition.