It’s Final: Peugeot Not Returning to US

After all the push and pull, Stellantis has made its final decision: Peugeot will not be returning to the United States market.

No less than CEO Carlo Tavares of the newly formed company made the official announcement through a call with members of the media, as reported by Automotive News Europe.

“For the time being, I don’t think that is part of the things that we want to prioritize for the next time window,” Tavares said. “I think it’s better that we funnel the talent, the capital, and the engineering capability of our Stellantis company to the existing brands to improve what needs to be improved and to accelerate where we need to accelerate because we already have a very strong presence in this market.”

And he’s not wrong. Even with Peugeot in the fold, Stellantis already has a huge presence in the US—thanks to the considerable market share of its major brands, namely Jeep, Dodge, and Ram.

Stellantis can also use its resources to strengthen the footing of Chrysler, which has struggled in America with only three models in its current portfolio: the 300, the Pacifica, and the Voyager.

Chrysler has seen significant losses in the last few years, sliding from 300,000 sales five years ago to just around 110,000 in 2020. This sparked rumors that it could be exiting the US soon.

Tavares, however, sees an opportunity: “We consider that this brand is one of the three historical pillars of Stellantis [the other two being Fiat and Peugeot], and of course we are eager, and I am eager, to give this brand a future.”

Stellantis also bared plans to boost the brand image of its Alfa Romeo line in the US by recently appointing Larry Dominique as the chief for Alfa Romeo North America. Dominique was previously at the helm of the foiled relaunch plans for Peugeot.