EVs in the north, Peugeot in the south
Notably: Peugeot CEO Alain Favey states that the brand is somewhat lagging in the EV field because it performs particularly well in the southern part of Europe. The brand isn’t complaining, however, as it also sees advantages in its own situation.
“The BEV market in Europe is concentrated in four or five markets,” Peugeot CEO Favey introduces his point. “The further north you go, the more EVs are sold.” That’s roughly accurate. In Scandinavia and also in our own Netherlands, EV adoption started early, while in countries like Spain and Italy it’s different. According to Favey, that’s also where the problem lies, because: “Peugeot is stronger in regions where the EV market is simply very small.” According to the Peugeot executive, this also explains why ‘his’ brand is somewhat behind some competitors in Europe when it comes to EV sales. If we immediately look at the figures from Best-selling-cars.com, we see that Peugeot indeed ranks 15th in EV sales for 2025 up to and including August. Many European and non-European competitors are thus ahead of the French in this area, but according to Favey, this can all be explained geographically.
Positive
This doesn’t mean that Alain Favey is worried about the ‘electric situation’ at Peugeot. He calmly points out that for average CO2 emissions, the focus is on Stellantis as a group, although in the mentioned list there are currently no Stellantis brands performing better. Favey also simply has patience: “It might go a bit slower than with other brands, but what matters is that we’re on a clear upward path when it comes to EV adoption.”
Moreover, Favey sees a major advantage when it comes to the way Peugeot develops EVs, and he might have a point there. At Peugeot and other Stellantis brands, an EV is by definition a car that also exists with other powertrains. So the same body with different drive concepts, whereas the competition typically offers ‘dedicated’ and completely separate EVs alongside more traditional and fuel-powered models. This not infrequently leads to temporary factory closures and job losses as demand for these purely electric models proves disappointing. In such cases, Peugeot can relatively switch to producing units with combustion engines, thus smoothly accommodating variations in demand without major suffering. Which, by the way, doesn’t mean that Stellantis as a whole is immune to temporary factory closures.