According to Christian Delous, director of Peugeot's international operations, the company will introduce a model made by Dongfeng Citroen, a joint venture between China's Dongfeng Motor Corp and PSA Peugeot Citroen, in 2004.

Delous made the announcement during a press conference on the eve of the Seventh Beijing International Auto Show (Auto China 2002), which opened on Thursday.

The announcement came six years after Guangzhou Peugeot, a joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Industry Corp, fell flat largely due to the lack of competitiveness of its products.

Guangzhou Peugeot produced Peugeot 405 and 505 vehicles.

Peugeot said it plans to bring its No 2 platform to Dongfeng Citroen to prepare for production of its vehicles in China again.

Asked whether Peugeot's strong participation in Auto China 2002 signals the company's return to the Chinese market, Delous said: "We never left China. We will further explore the market."

Peugeot is displaying many of its models during Auto China 2002, including 206CC convertible car, 307SW, and 406, 607 and 807 series.

He said Peugeot will continue to maintain its after-sales services for vehicles it produced in China before.

There are around 20,000 Guangzhou Peugeot-made vehicles in use in China. Peugeot appears to be very confident for its export business to China.

"We aim to export more than 5,000 vehicles to China next year as long as we can get enough import licences," he added.

Peugeot expects to export 2,500 vehicles to China this year, up from 800 last year, he said.

However, importers say charges on a vehicle import licence have increased up to 100,000 yuan (US$12,100) as so many foreign companies have been striving for licences after China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Under WTO obligations, China cut its tariffs on auto imports from 70-80 percent to 43.8-50.7 percent at the beginning of this year. Currently, Peugeot sells its 306, 407, 607 and 206 models in China.

Dongfeng and Peugeot are awaiting the green light from the Chinese Government to set up two sales joint ventures for both locally made and imported Peugeot and Citroen vehicles.

(China Daily June 07, 2002)