Peugeot’s comeback to America was fun for as long as it lasted

Remember when Peugeot said it was returning to the United States? Well, let’s just say maybe it’s not a priority anymore.

Carlos Tavares, CEO of Groupe PSA, said in 2018 that the company would make its next generation of cars compliant with the United States. There were only advantages in the United States, Tavares said at the time, now almost three years ago.

Here is what the CEO of Peugeot is now saying. Of Automotive news:

“We were talking for the last time about [Peugeot’s U.S. re-entry] a year and a half ago, before Stellantis, ” [Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato] said. “We cannot ignore the fact that in the coming days Peugeot will be part of this new world. I imagine that in the coming months, due to the new strategy, we will have to adapt and reconsider all the elements, including this one.

Imparato said it was important for the company not to overlap brands. He said, however, that the possible reintroduction of Peugeot in the United States was still “on the table” for the future.

These are the kind of vague promises that make you think it might never happen, and you can’t really blame them. Peugeot left the United States in 1991, saying getting their cars certified was too expensive and, you know, they weren’t selling that many to really justify the exercise anyway, or 4,292 cars in 1990.

Now the timing is much worse. Peugeot is largely an automobile company, as in real cars, not large trucks and SUVs. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Peugeot would come here in today’s environment and fall flat on its face, considering gasoline is cheap and people still want big trucks and SUVs.

I will leave these decisions to the people who are paid to make them and I will note instead that the coming of Peugeot would certainly be interesting, about the only real thing I’m biased towards.

In addition, the Peugeot Sport Engineered 508 is amazing.