Peugeot will double output of 2008 small SUV

PARIS -- Peugeot will double production of the 2008 small SUV in France to meet higher-than-expected demand, brand head Maxime Picat said.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's plant in Mulhouse, eastern France, will make 10,000 units of the 2008 a month, up from 5,000, Picat told the Automotive News Congress here on Wednesday.

He said a second shift will begin producing the model in September.

"We have 16,000 orders, mostly coming from dealerships where the 2008 wasn't even presented," Picat said about the reaction to the model.

IHS Automotive told Automotive News Europe earlier this year that the 2008 would quickly top the fast-growing segment for subcompact SUV/crossovers, passing the current leader, the Nissan Juke.

IHS said sales of subcompact SUVs will grow to more than 500,000 in Europe by 2015, up from 154,461 last year.

In the first four months of this year, segment-leader Nissan sold 38,383 Jukes, with the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka ranking second with sales of 25,853, according to market analysts JATO Dynamics.

The newly launched Renault Captur is expected to overtake both the Juke and the Mokka and rank No. 2 in the segment, according to IHS.

Peugeot forecasts it will sell 200,000 units of the 2008 in 2015, with 100,000 built in Mulhouse for Europe and markets besides South America and China.

A further 45,000 units will be made in Brazil, with the remaining 55,000 built in China.

Earlier this year, PSA said the 2008 was the brand's first model designed, developed and engineered simultaneously by employees based in Europe, China and Latin America.