PEUGEOT Automobiles Australia (PAA) has revealed that it is close to depleting most of the aged vehicle stock that the company says profoundly undermined its sales efforts last year.

Speaking at the recent launch of the facelifted 2008 small SUV in Sydney, PAA general manager Kai Bruesewitz said the strategy has cleared the way for next-generation models such as the 3008 medium SUV to have their best chance yet of success in the competitive Australian marketplace.

With Peugeot sales plummeting 21.8 per cent last year as the overall new-vehicle market continued to boom – the French brand fell from 4000 new registrations in 2015 to 3129 units last year – the so-called “legacy stock” issue was described by one spokesperson as “a huge handbrake on our business”.

“In 2016 we took the time to clean house,” Mr Bruesewitz said. “That is, we focused on ensuring the stock we held on the ground did not impede the rollout of new models scheduled for this year.

“While we are always driven to achieve our sales targets and the like, it is fair to say they were not the main focus for 2016. Clearing the banks and making sure we had a clean plate for models launching in 2017 was the aim.

“We will roll into the 2008 and 3008 SUV launches with minimum stock – which is a fortunate position to be in. Programs such as an extended warranty offer, attractive driveaway pricing and generous retail offers aided our focus and so helped us reduce our on-grass stock by 60 per cent in the last quarter of last year.

“Today we are in a much healthier position … we enter 2017 lean and ready to launch a range of new products.”

This ‘lean’ period is clearly reflected in this year’s sales figures, with Peugeot’s sales falling further in the first two months of trading – down 21.8 per cent with just 397 units to the end of February, compared with 651 over the same period last year.

Furthermore, PAA national sales manager Nigel Wright said unforeseen delays for the next-generation 3008 medium SUV – now due in about August – means that clawing back the annual sales slide will not be possible this year, but might happen in 2018.

He also admitted that the brand had been weakened considerably in the past, and that it will take a significant amount of hard work, patience and money for things to improve.

“With the launch of the new 3008 now delayed until the third quarter, it is unlikely that Peugeot will exceed 4000 sales in 2017,” Mr Wright said.

“Last year was about experiencing pain and this year is about relaunching things, but that momentum won’t happen overnight … and our brand is not quite strong enough yet.

“We want it to be in a sustainable and sensible manner, for both our business and for the dealer network, and a key focus of what we’re doing this year has to be the dealer network.

“But with the facelifted 2008 and the increased sales opportunities this will present, we believe our 2016 result will certainly be surpassed. The momentum of the facelift 2008 which will be created, along will the launch of the 3008, which will ensure moderate growth in 2017, building a strong platform for the Peugeot brand to deliver well in excess of 4000 sales in 2018.”

Peugeot sales have been on a downward trend since 2007. From a height of 8807 units that year, the brand has slowly headed southward, despite developing entrants for the SUV segment – the 4007 arrived in 2009, followed by 3008 and 4008 in 2012, and the 2008 a year later – and despite light-commercial vehicles (Expert and Partner) coming onto the market in 2008.

The LCVs have now gone, and SUV sales have been trending downward since 2014, but passenger car sales is the area where Peugeot has really suffered, falling every year since 2007 bar one to just 2061 units last year.

The 308 small car is the brand’s top-selling model by a country mile, but it, too, has struggled over the period, falling from 3346 units in 2009 and reaching a low of just 602 units in 2013, before climbing back above 1000 in more recent years.

Last year’s total of 1237 sales did, however, mark another setback for the model, down 17 per cent on 2015.

By Byron Mathioudakis