Commitment to keeping the lion on the prowl comes after Australia’s rights’ holder pulls the pin after years of poor results.

ONGOING commitment to selling Peugeot here has been given by the New Zealand distributor, in wake of its equivalent in Australia having pulled out.

After almost 10 years as Peugeot’s official Australian importer, Inchcape has announced it will cease distribution of the French brand in Australia.

The call came in the same period the British automotive investor group decided to withdraw from representing Korean make KGM in New Zealand.

Rights to Peugeot here don’t belong to Inchcape; the biggest of the two brands from France’s PSA group instead is with Auto Distributors, a multi-franchise operation owned by Christchurch industry magnate Rick Armstrong.

It today hastened to reconfirm its commitment to the marque, with ADNZ general manager Brian Carr saying:. “Peugeot New Zealand, via the local importer Auto Distributors (ADNZ), remains 100 percent committed to our market, dealer partners and customers.”

“We want to reassure our loyal customers that the situation in New Zealand remains very much business as usual.”

The statement comes with ADNZ announcing intent to add a further four dealers to a national network of nine sales and service outlets, most in the North Island. It has also introduced complimentary three-year servicing across all new models and a new specification level of the 3008 GT.

Says Carr: “As one of Stellantis’ four key brands, ADNZ wants to emulate the success Peugeot has achieved elsewhere across many other countries, we remain committed to building the success of Peugeot in New Zealand.”

What will be massively reassuring to ADNZ is that Peugeot’s parent company, Stellantis, has said the brand will continue in Australia. Without that commitment, it might be all the more challenging to have reason to keep feeding cars in New Zealand, the marque’s farthest flung market.

As is, a massive ingredient is that product to this part of the world is almost wholly shared in common specifications by both countries.

For Peugeot to lose interest in Australia could have made it more challenging to keep it going in NZ as our neighbour is clearly the much larger and more important market.

That said, the diminishing results that caused Inchcape to decide on a divorce would hardly stand as the strongest argument supporting desire to maintain regional presence.

While Peugeot is a small player on both sides of the Tasman, it’s stocks have fallen sharply on our neighbour’s turf.

Last year it recorded 1350 sales in Australia, which has an annual new car market of close to one million vehicles. The count for NZ was about 40 prcent of Australia’s total.

That volume was down from 1896 in 2024, and 2516 in 2023, with lower sales in 2022 of 2087 units, but a higher 2805-unit result in 2021.

Year-to-date figures to the end of May 2026 showed Peugeot had sold 373 cars in Australia, a 35 percent drop from the same time in 2025.

An end date to Inchcape’s involvement has yet to be announced, but it said the existing dealer network will continue to support retail sales for existing stock, along with warranty, servicing, and spare parts obligations until a changeover is announced.

The website for Wheels/Whichcar said Stellantis Australia has told it “Peugeot has a strong future in Australia, supported by a robust product pipeline and a clear long-term strategy. We intend to maintain continuity of distribution in Australia and will provide updates as arrangements progress.

“We remain committed to our customers and partners throughout this period and are confident in the brand’s long-term prospects in the Australian market.”