Alain Favey, CEO of Peugeot: "As long as the charging infrastructure isn't sufficiently developed, it will be difficult to sell electric cars without external incentives."

The current context of the global electric car market (and especially the European one ) is thought-provoking. Electric car sales are struggling , buyers' doubts are growing ( oh, the range ), and brand bosses are backtracking on their plans for a 100% electric offering. The latest to join the fold is Peugeot's new CEO, Alain Favey . If a few years ago the lion brand, owned by Stellantis , boasted of a completely electric future , the reality now is quite different.

During a meeting with several journalists, reported by Automobilwoche , Favey outlined Peugeot's key objectives, including a shift from a 100% electric future to one in which all technologies have a place: " Electric mobility is fundamental to the Peugeot brand. But it won't be our only propulsion technology. Our strength lies in our multi-energy platform . We leave the choice of propulsion system to the customer," Favey confessed. Combustion engines until the end.

For Peugeot's CEO, electric mobility faces a major challenge: the charging network . This explains, at least in part, the stagnation in electric car sales : "As long as the charging infrastructure isn't sufficiently developed, it will be difficult for us to sell electric cars without external incentives," summarized the Peugeot CEO during his meeting with the media.

Favey also made other interesting headlines during the talk. Among them, the (re)positioning that Peugeot has been undergoing in recent years. For Stellantis, the lion brand won't aspire to the premium market, but it won't be the most affordable either. It will be right in the middle, according to Alain Favey: "We don't want to be a premium brand. Peugeot is at the top of the commercial spectrum. We are and will remain a high-volume brand . We're not in the low-cost car segment either. We have no intention of returning to the A segment ," the executive concluded.

The other pearl of wisdom was about customers and quality. Favey intones a mea culpa and acknowledges the mistakes, but also Peugeot's desire to improve and change: "We've distanced ourselves a bit from our customers and also from our partners. We want to get closer to them again. We had some quality issues . But that's only a problem if they're not resolved. Now we'll make it clear that we take these issues very seriously," concluded the Peugeot CEO.