PARIS — Peugeot will start selling the Landtrek, a one-ton pickup developed with the Chinese automaker Changan Automobile, at the end of this year, starting in South and Central America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Landtrek will be available with diesel or gasoline engines and several body styles, including two-door, four-door and chassis cab, which can be customized for different applications. It can be ordered in rear- or four-wheel-drive.
The pickup is not expected to be sold in Europe, Peugeot said.
Renault and Mercedes recently launched one-ton pickups in Europe, based on the Nissan Navara, but with little sales success. Fiat also launched a one-ton pickup based on the Mitsubishi L200.
Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato told Automotive News Europe in November that the Landtrek had undergone 2 million kilometers of testing on all kinds of terrain. “It must be unstoppable,” he said, adding that reliability was the most important factor in the segment.
“I won’t launch it until the global ecosystem, such as spare parts, is ready, because it must be able to be maintained everywhere in the world,” Imparato said. “I want to put the focus on the fact that everywhere in Africa you can get this car repaired.”
The Landtrek will be built first in China and later in South America, he said.
Peugeot said the global market for one-ton pickups was more than 2.4 million units, but Imparato declined to offer specific sales targets, noting how hard it was to get buyers to switch brands.
Payload in some versions is up to 1.2 tons, Peugeot said, and towing capacity is up to three tons.
