Dongfeng Peugeot revises 2012 sales target

Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen has revised its sales goal for this year down from 240,000 vehicles to 230,000 vehicles, Beijing News reported.

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The joint venture announced the decision at a recent dealership summit. The announcement has so far only been made internally, with the JV's public relations offer yet to receive a written copy. Dongfeng Peugeot is the first JV to revise its sales goal down this year.

According to official statistics, Dongfeng Peugeot sold a total of 88,000 vehicles from January to May. According to conventional logic, 45 percent of a manufacturer's sales target should be attained in the first six months of the year, while the remaining 55 percent is to be earned in the latter half of the year. For Dongfeng Peugeot to achieve the original target of 240,000 sales, it would have to sell around 20,000 vehicles in June. "As June is traditionally a slow sales month, it is unrealistic that (we would) be able to attain this figure," a Dongfeng Peugeot dealer was quoted as saying.

The joint venture has also announced policies to help the Peugeot 508 achieve its individual sales target for the year. The JV aims to sell 48,000 508s this year, triple the amount sold in 2011. In order to meet this target, an average of 4,000 units must be sold each month. The 508's sales have yet to meet those expectations, with its monthly sales figures from February to April recorded to be 1,681 units, 2,357 units and 1,745 units, respectively.

"In order to improve the 508's marketability, new policies to aid dealership sales have been announced," a source attending the summit was quoted as saying.

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