PSA Peugeot Citroen boss Carlos Tavares has confirmed that the firm’s new CMP platform will be manufactured to allow the firm to launch its first mainstream fully electric vehicles by 2020 at the latest.
The new £200m platform is being developed in conjunction with Peugeot’s Chinese co-owner and joint venture partner Dongfeng, and it will underpin all future B-segment vehicles such as the Peugeot 208, Citroen C3 and Citroen DS3 for the firm, as well as entry-level C-segment cars such as the Citroen C4 Cactus.
Speaking at the Shanghai motor show, Tavares said: “We will launch our pure electric cars from the bottom of the market upwards - so starting with the new CMP platform. That will be 2020 at the latest.
"CMP will not be plug-in hybrid, however - that technology will be launched first by 2019, and on larger, top end cars based on the EMP2 platform.”
The PSA Group’s newly spun-off DS brand will be the first in the Group to launch a plug-in hybrid, emphasising its premium status and role as technology leader for the three brands.
Tavares also confirmed his firm was keeping a watching brief on hydrogen fuel cell technology, but said that the slow rate at which the infrastructure for electric cars had grown suggested that sufficient infrastructure for hydrogen fleets was some way off.
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