French manager aims for massive growth for peugeot

Not everyone in France knows about Wuhan, but everyone in the Paris headquarters of PSA Peugeot Citroen certainly is familiar with the city.

The second largest car manufacturer in Europe paired up with Dongfeng Motor Corp in 1992, founding the joint venture Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Company in Wuhan.

Maxime Picat, who came to Wuhan in late 2007, stepped up as the first French general manager of the joint venture in January. Despite not speaking very fluent Chinese, the Frenchman insists on delivering all his speeches to employees in Chinese to save time translating.

The 36-year-old shared his thoughts with China Daily from his four years of work and life in Wuhan.

Q: Why did you choose to work in Wuhan in the first place?

A: Working abroad in an international company like PSA is normal. In PSA's mind, China is the priority for sure. So going to work in China is a great opportunity for me.

Unlike Beijing and Shanghai, which are international cities full of international people and brands, Wuhan is a city of real China. It helps me better understand the country and its culture.

What is your first impression of Wuhan?

The city is so big. I walked with a map for like an hour and I asked people where I was. On the map, it looked I was still there, unmoved.

How has the Dongfeng Peugeot Citreon Automobile Company's development gone over the years?

We have two plants in Wuhan, the first was created in 1995 and the second just launched in 2009, which gave us full capacity in 2011 of 450,000 cars. We sold 373,000 cars in 2010, which doubled our number from 2008.

What's your plan in the next five years?

The construction of our third plant will kick off in May. And we have an ambitious goal of a 5 percent market share in China by 2015, with production capacity of 750,000 cars a year. Also, we are starting to work on a program to export. From now until 2015, our exports will increase a lot and we are focusing on exporting more than 30,000 cars a year.

What has impressed you most during your stay in Wuhan?

Revolution of infrastructure has impressed me the most. Sometimes you just wonder why they are building a road in the middle of nowhere. But two years later, there are lots of buildings, roads and bridges around. Even when we double our capacity - you can imagine the gas, the electricity - but we haven't run into any major problems.

Is it easy for an expat to live in Wuhan?

There are not many international people around Wuhan. I have to learn Chinese if I want to talk to a salesman in supermarket. But it helps me know Wuhan better. Plus, Wuhan is a really nice place to live. People say France is a beautiful country, but every summer when my family and I finish our vacation in France, we'd say "Okay, let's go home".