It has been rumbling since 2008: Peugeot wants to return to the American market. However, concrete plans never materialized and under the banner of Stellantis the step to America could take a very long time for the French.
The merger of the Italian / American FCA and the French / German PSA also means a significant shift in the priorities of PSA in particular. That concern was not active on the American market and logically saw growth opportunities there. Specifically, Peugeot had to make it (again) in the US, after it was previously active there between 1958 and 1991.
However, the match between FCA and PSA is so strong because FCA is strong where PSA is not and vice versa. More specifically: FCA is doing well in the US, PSA in Europe. Introducing a (former) PSA brand on the North American market, which is very difficult for newcomers, seems a lot less logical and that is now confirmed by Stellantis itself.
The new car group informs Car and Driver that the priorities are certainly not with the introduction of Peugeot in North America. Instead, people in that part of the world want to invest heavily in existing brands, whereby Chrysler is specifically mentioned. Chrysler in the US is a bit like Lancia in Europe, although it is not that bad there yet. The brand only carries the obsolete 300 and two versions of the same minivan (MPV): the Pacifica and the Voyager. In the last five years, sales have therefore dropped from 300,000 per year to 110,000 per year in the – admitted – disaster year 2020, the Americans report.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says firmly contradicts that Chrysler is doomed and even states that the brand is considered one of the three historical pillars of Stellantis, along with Peugeot and Fiat. Exactly what the future of Chrysler will look like is not yet clear, but that Peugeot’s future is not in the US seems almost an established fact.