Peugeot previewed new Dongfeng-built models with pair of striking concepts
Stellantis inks new deal to build two new Peugeots and two new Jeeps at Dongfeng’s Wuhan plant from 2027
Stellantis has signed a new partnership with Dongfeng to build Peugeot and Jeep models in China, for local sale and global export.
The two firms have signed a new agreement, building on their existing partnership in China, which will result in their joint venture – Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile (DPCA) – building two new Peugeots and two new Jeeps at its Wuhan factory from next year.
The Peugeots will be based on the dramatic Concept 6 and Concept 8 show cars that recently made their debut at the Beijing motor show, previewing a rakish estate in the mould of the 508 and a new flagship SUV (below) that’s larger than any car the French firm has yet produced.
Stellantis has yet to give any details of the Jeeps but said they will be “off-road new-energy vehicles”.
All four cars are intended for sale in global markets, Stellantis has confirmed, without clarifying which specific regions could take them.
DPCA has previously already built and sold a range of Peugeots in China, including the 4008, 5008 and 508 L. It also produced the previous-generation Citroën C5 Aircross and C5 X for the Chinese market.
Notably, Dongfeng also has a joint venture in China with Nissan and will soon begin exporting some of its Chinese-built Nissan models to markets including Latin America and the Middle East.
Nissan has likewise said it remains open to bringing some of these cars to Europe and could also produce the Dongfeng-based N7 saloon at its UK factory in Sunderland.
Dongfeng’s new partnership with Stellantis – supported by “the favourable automotive industrial policies of the Hubei province and the Wuhan municipality” – is worth a combined €1 billion (£871m) of investment, the two firms said, of which Stellantis will contribute around €130m.
It comes just a week after Stellantis confirmed that it would expand its partnership with its other Chinese joint venture partner, Leapmotor, to develop and build a new Vauxhall SUV atop the Hangzhou-based firm’s EV architecture.
Earlier this month, Peugeot CEO Alain Favey told Autocar that the brand’s two new Dongfeng-based models would “test the water” of the corporate partnership and were likely to be sold worldwide.
He said Peugeot planned to use Dongfeng’s architecture to cater to demands in the hugely competitive Chinese market – and said that some of the Chinese firm’s technology was “more advanced than what we can deliver in Europe”.
The new deal comes in line with Stellantis’s renewed focus on establishing partnerships for growth in key global markets, which CEO Antonio Filosa said this week would “be embedded in our strategy going forward”.
Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit on Tuesday, Filosa hailed the importance of partnerships that are not “mono-directional” and “benefit both sides” – and suggested that more deals would follow as part of a strategy to grow Stellantis worldwide.
“Stellantis has been growing this last year, creating a clear view of being attractive for long-term partnerships to many players,” he said.
“We are attractive because we are strong in many regions, we are attractive because of our scale, and mostly because we have unbelievably strong brands, so our level of appeal is big.
“We understand that by working with a set of partners to build a roadmap of technological improvement, supply chain improvement and maybe capacity utilisation. These are really good topics to work together and create benefits.”
Filosa will give more details about this strategy next Thursday in a long-awaited investor day presentation at Stellantis’s US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Reuters has reported that Filosa will announce plans to direct most investment towards Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Peugeot as part of a plan to strengthen the company in its core regions and focus on its best-performing brands.
He is also expected to shed light on the future of Stellantis’s lower-volume brands, including Maserati, which Chinese media has recently reported is in talks with tech giant Huawei and car maker JAC to jointly develop new models.
