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Bloomberg
PSA Group is replacing its head of Asian operations as the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars struggles to stem a sales slump in China.
Denis Martin, 61, who’s been managing the China and southeast Asia region since 2016, is leaving to pursue “personal projects,†and will be succeeded in the role by Carlos Gomes, who currently leads Latin America, the French carmaker said in a statement.
“With the results obtained in Latin America in a difficult economic context, Carlos Gomes will be able to use his commercial expertise and managerial skills to give a new impetus to this region with strategic issues for the company,†PSA said. A spokesman declined to comment further.
The carmaker has been trying with little success to ditch its image as a budget brand with drab designs in China, the world’s largest auto market.
The nation is a crucial counterweight for PSA, whose reliance on Europe pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy three years ago.
That dependence deepened this year with the purchase of General Motors Co.’s operations on the continent.
PSA’s sales in China and southeast Asia dropped 37 percent in the year through November to 336,800 vehicles. Gomes, 53, who’s been head of Latin America since 2010, has previously worked for Fiat SpA and Renault SA.