Jean-Philippe Imparato and Peugeot’s rock-solid road map
The car world is changing, and Peugeot’s boss is ready – and excited – to lead that change
Jean-Philippe Imparato is an ebullient presence, and the energy of Peugeot’s executive VP mirrors that of the marque itself. Peugeot has been re-energised of late, with the 208 beating the Tesla Model 3 and Porsche’s Taycan to the European Car of the Year title in March.
‘It’s an interesting result,’ says Imparato. ‘You have three EV cars on the podium [the 208 is available with the choice of either conventional engines or a pure electric powertrain]. I get the sense the 208 is on top, aside from its design, because of affordability. Not everyone is able to pay more than £60,000. In terms of EV transition, it is time to provide affordable cars.’
He adds that in January and February, the electric e-208 (priced from around £25k) made up 15 per cent of the model’s sales, alongside its petrol and diesel stablemates. A shrewd move, then, to be an early mover with affordable, mainstream EVs, before tougher emissions regulations swing into force?
‘We discussed the strategy around 2015. We wanted to give people choice. Not a specific [electric] line-up, but a car with the ability for you to choose the powertrain depending on your local regulations, your usage, your personal conviction. At the end of 2016 we took the decision to go ahead.’ Tightening emissions regulations accelerated matters: ‘I remember the day we received the new EV guidelines for 2030 at the 2018 Paris motor show. We had a face-to-face with Carlos [Tavares], my boss, and we took two decisions. The first was to go full speed on EVs. The second was to cancel the WRX [World Rallycross] programme, and to put the money into Peugeot Sport Engineered.’
That’s Peugeot’s upcoming series of high-performance hybrids and EVs, starting with the rapid PHEV 508, due in the autumn. An electric 208 GTI successor is being considered too. ‘At the moment I am pushing on the top of the range with the 508. If the market is there, I will cap the volumes at 1000, 2000 cars. Then I will go on to the other proposals in this range. For example, it could be 3008 PS Engineered, and I would love to be able to do something around the 208. A sporty electric version would be interesting, no? But we will decide after the other cars.’
Imparato is a petrolhead implementing an EV strategy. ‘Everything motorised is my passion, including bikes. I am always on a bike except when it snows. In the week, commuting to work, and at the weekend on track.’ A keen amateur car racer,
he’s competed in endurance racing at the Nürburgring and cites Peugeot’s two Dakar rally wins under his watch among his proudest achievements: ‘My best moments in this life are around motorsport.’
He began his professional career at Peugeot in 1989, and rose quickly through PSA’s ranks, shifting gears through a variety of weighty responsibilities across the globe. From heading up Peugeot’s Latin American operation to bossing sister company Citroën’s sales and marketing in Italy, he has been Peugeot brand executive vice-president since 2016.
‘My experience has a lot of scope. It’s good; I’ve achieved all the professional targets I imagined in my life.’ From 2013 he managed PSA’s dealership network, no small task. ‘In the UK, we were facing a very dicult situation. We were losing a great deal of money when I came in. After three or four years we were breaking even. I loved this experience.’ He’s proud (and, you sense, relieved) that Peugeot’s residual values are improving in the UK: ‘In late 2008-2009, when the markets were down, we believed you could compensate by dropping pricing. But we learned never to kill the ranking power of the car. If you kill the pricing power of the car, you kill its value.’
And future trends? ‘First: total cost of ownership will become the average way of selling cars, not so much in the UK, but in all the other countries of the world. Especially with everybody switching to electric in the coming decade. Second, increased online sales. If you don’t want to have contact outside the internet to buy your car, you don’t have to. Third, 5G connectivity is coming, and so is autonomy. But we will never do something that is trendy only because it is trendy. We will do something only if we first believe in it. Because if you make a B-segment car tomorrow that has EV power, connectivity and autonomy, you are more than doubling its price. Not everybody can afford to pay that in the coming five years. So our responsibility is to provide sustainable, affordable mobility. That is the mission of the Peugeot brand over the next 10 years.’