Next week sees the launch of two important car brands in China, Citroen’s DS range, and the reemergence of Fiat on the 28th. Citroen’s DS range will begin the start of a major push by PSA to improve sales in the Chinese market, yesterday Dongfeng-Peugeot lowered its sales goal from 240,000 units to 230,000 units. The DS5 has already had its China premiere at the Guangzhou Auto Show along with the DS3, the DS3 is set to hit the China market first with the DS5 following later in the year, both will be eventually produced in Shenzhen via the CAPSA (Chang’an PSA) joint venture.

The DS3 will be powered by a 1.6T engine with 156bhp on tap, pricing hasn’t yet yet been announced but as an imported vehicle it wont be cheap, pricing is expected to be around the 200,000RMB barrier. Competition in this segment is hotting up quite quickly, small premium vehicle choices were initially limited to just the MINI range but more small vehicles are joining the line up – the BMW 1 series, Audi A1, and Fiat 500 have joined the market.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world’s biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the ‘Website’ link.

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