Business users should account for at least half of the sales of the Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C-Crosser 4×4 duo, although Peugeot admitted it was a “tough choice” to discriminate in favour of less profitable fleet volumes.
Pierre-Louis Colin, Peugeot’s UK managing director, said: “Our general strategy is to have almost equal market shares in fleet and retail markets. But with the new 4007 coming this summer we have had to make a tough choice.
“It is not something we like and there is a natural temptation to sell more retail because they are more profitable. But fleets provide higher visibility and we have made past mistakes discriminating in favour of one more profitable fleet channel over another. This upset some business customers. We cannot consciously exclude fleet deals.”
Colin admitted that with an annual allocation of 1500 units representing 1% of the 4×4 market Peugeot will be a marginal player, a role shared with Citroen on a similar volume.
He said: “The biggest challenge is to try and get more cars from Mitsubishi because it is a growing sector including more brands and their models.”
Citroen sources point to a starting price “just over £20,000” for the C-Crosser, which like the Peugeot will initially only feature PSA’s 156PS, 2.2-litre HDI diesel and a six-speed manual transmission.
A company spokesman said: “The majority of C-Crossers will go to fleet and with an overall 40mpg capability, 191g/km CO2 rating and seven seats it should register in the upper end of predicted compact SUV RVs.”
