► Peugeot’s new boss is now 100 days in
► He tells CAR about its positioning and challenges
► And don’t ever call Peugeot premium
The boss of Peugeot has said he has ‘no intention or appetite’ to become a premium car brand as it withdraws from the large car segment as its 508 bows out of production.
Following a similar decision at Citroen, which recently discontinued its C5X to focus on more lucrative segments, Peugeot is now doing the same.
Speaking to CAR, newly appointed Peugeot CEO Alain Favey emphasised Peugeot’s position of being ‘upper mainstream’ and that it had ‘potential to compete at a higher price in the mainstream segment’.
But Favey was adamant Peugeot didn’t want to move any further upwards than that as a brand.
‘Clearly, we are a volume player, and our business model is based on reaching a high level of volume. But we don’t want to be premium, we have no intention or appetite for the premium market. We want to be in the volume segment, rather at the upper part of it,’ said Favey.
While UK orders of the Peugeot 508 were closed in December 2024, production for other markets continued but will end for good later this month at Stellantis’ Rennes plant in north-western France. The factory will then solely focus on the new Citroen C5 Aircross.
‘The 508 is stopping now,’ says Favey. ‘We don’t think we need a presence in the D segment in the future, we think we can cover it with solutions, which are more appropriate and which the business case is stronger.’
Favey points towards the new Peugeot 5008, saying it ‘offers even more than what a D-segment customer might expect sometimes’.
Peugeot has a slightly odd positioning within Stellantis – sitting above Fiat and Citroen at the more budget end but trying not to encroach on premium players DS and Alfa Romeo, despite the French firm quite notably moving upmarket in recent years.
Favey is just over 100 days in as the boss of Peugeot, joining from hire car giant Europcar, where as CEO he oversaw the cyclical purchase of 50,000 Stellantis vehicles.
His top priorities at Peugeot? Reconnecting with customers, partners and dealers comes first. Second is launching a wave of offers to help it get back on track with private buyers, which he says the firm has been ‘losing ground over the last few years’.
His third priority is addressing quality issues with its cars, namely its catastrophically unreliable PureTech ‘wet belt’ engine. Stellantis as a whole has launched a new compensation scheme where former owners of cars fitted with their engine can claim for damages online. Favey said 60 per cent who go on the platform ‘get the compensation are they entitled to’.
Peugeot has a big year ahead, and is doing well. It sold 400,000 cars in the first four months of 2025, eight per cent more than previous year, and sales of its new 3008 and 5008 are spearheading this growth.
Plenty more is also in the pipeline, with GTI set for a big relaunch at Le Mans with a hot version of its e-208, and a facelift of the firm’s bread-and-butter 308 arriving later in the year.
Senior staff writer, car reviewer, news hound, avid car detailer.
By Ted Welford
Senior staff writer at CAR and our sister website Parkers. Loves a car auction. Enjoys making things shiny