Credit where credit's overdue for Peugeot and Citroen
Banque PSA Finance, a member of the PSA Peugeot Citroen group, together with PSA Finance Polska, finances customers for both carmakers. In cooperation with Lukas Bank and European Lease Fund, the French sell leasing and credit products.
Positioned among middle-class brands, Peugeot and Citroen sold 36,000 new cars last year, which gave those two a 10 percent combined share in the market. One fifth of that has been financed through PSA's or its associates' products.
"In the near future we would like one in four [PSA] cars to be credited by us," says operating director of the bank, Cezary Wachowski. To achieve this, claims the director, the French subsidiary prepared some tempting offers. A zero percent interest rate is offered to clients who pay 30 percent of the car's value up front. Yearly rates reach 7.9 percent, but on some products go below seven percent and PSA will prolong warranties for an extra cost, in response to a standard three-year warranty introduced by Japanese manufacturers.
However, PSA Banque lags a few years behind the competition with its launch. Finance firms, such as Toyota Bank Polska or Volkswagen Bank, have been operating here for some time. Wachowski justifies that with "company policy" and underlines that EU entry made launching a foreign bank branch easier.
However, it is thanks to these open borders that new car financers face their most challenging task. Used-car imports skyrocketed over the last 12 months, which affected new-car sales severely, and the two French brands were among those hardest hit. Peugeot sold 24 percent less cars than in 2003, while Citroen's sales sank by 26 percent.
Despite this, Wachowski remains optimistic: "Soon we will see the market fully saturated with such [cheap and used] cars." In the director's opinion, used-car lots are already overloaded with merchandise, as happened in Spain a few years ago. Spaniards waited a dozen years for their auto-market to mature, but Poland is expected to repeat this scenario faster. Then, according to some forecasts, an annual sale of one million cars is possible, rising from 318,000 last year.
Positioned among middle-class brands, Peugeot and Citroen sold 36,000 new cars last year, which gave those two a 10 percent combined share in the market. One fifth of that has been financed through PSA's or its associates' products.
"In the near future we would like one in four [PSA] cars to be credited by us," says operating director of the bank, Cezary Wachowski. To achieve this, claims the director, the French subsidiary prepared some tempting offers. A zero percent interest rate is offered to clients who pay 30 percent of the car's value up front. Yearly rates reach 7.9 percent, but on some products go below seven percent and PSA will prolong warranties for an extra cost, in response to a standard three-year warranty introduced by Japanese manufacturers.
However, PSA Banque lags a few years behind the competition with its launch. Finance firms, such as Toyota Bank Polska or Volkswagen Bank, have been operating here for some time. Wachowski justifies that with "company policy" and underlines that EU entry made launching a foreign bank branch easier.
However, it is thanks to these open borders that new car financers face their most challenging task. Used-car imports skyrocketed over the last 12 months, which affected new-car sales severely, and the two French brands were among those hardest hit. Peugeot sold 24 percent less cars than in 2003, while Citroen's sales sank by 26 percent.
Despite this, Wachowski remains optimistic: "Soon we will see the market fully saturated with such [cheap and used] cars." In the director's opinion, used-car lots are already overloaded with merchandise, as happened in Spain a few years ago. Spaniards waited a dozen years for their auto-market to mature, but Poland is expected to repeat this scenario faster. Then, according to some forecasts, an annual sale of one million cars is possible, rising from 318,000 last year.
