21 November, 2007 : After a long pause, Peugeot, the French automaker, is once again gazing at the Indian market with a low cost model that is under development. Who can blame them for a second glance – at the rate the Indian automobile industry is growing; manufactures have to be blind not to notice us! The company seems still worried about the failure faced by Peugeot and Premier Automobiles Ltd. (PAL), their joint venture partners, in their formative years in India.

The cause for the closure of Peugeot in India had termed differently, as poor performance and joint venture failure. Its struggles to survive in the Indian market have resulted in the eventual exit of the company from the Indian auto-scenario in November 1997 – just a year before the auto boom started. Even if the company didn’t play any important roles in the Indian Passenger car market, we cannot forget Peugeot as it was one of the first automobile MNCs to enter India.

As the Indian auto market has been a matter of interest for foreign automakers , like Volvo, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, and many others from around the world, Peugeot is again getting ready to seek its luck in India. Our automobile industry has come a long way from the time they were here – we now not only have a splatter of automobile MNCs, but also a wider consumer interest. So, a definite green signal to Peugeot from my side!