PARIS -- PSA Group is ending the production of Peugeot and Citroen minicars, three sources told Reuters, withdrawing from an increasingly unprofitable market as it starts a strategic review ahead of its planned merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
While PSA had already agreed to sell its stake in its Czech joint venture with Toyota where the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1 models are made alongside the Toyota Aygo, the decision to stop selling the minicar altogether has just been taken, the sources said.
Automakers are reviewing the production of vehicles with combustion engines as they need to fit costly exhaust filtering systems to meet tighter emissions laws. That is pushing up the cost of some so-called entry-level A segment cars to the point where they are hard to justify economically.