[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

[seb_sh]

Honestly, I don't think Citroën care too much about their WRC project at the moment. They had a massively good start to their WTCC campaign and there is honestly no reason for them to be in the WRC anymore.

[...]

I think Citroën kind of thought that it would be okay to run in the WRC half-hearted as Abu Dhabi Tourism pay all the bills, but this half-hearted commitment is not good for their brand, and not good for the sport either. I hope they will leave the WRC at the end of the year because this isn't good for anybody.

Let the other PSA brand Peugeot give it a try now that PSA has secured a massive chinese investment. That has removed the companys fear of a collaps. Furthermore, Peugeot trditionally is less focussed on being "french" as their export markets are quite different from Citroëns, so they might be able to enter with a different philosophy and find a setup that can beat VW and Ogier.

While I agree Citroen's half heartened effort does not put them in a good light I disagree it would be better for the sport if they retired. The car is still competitive and being there means two more factory drives. If they retired the championship would be even more unbalanced toward VW. If getting podiums is enough for them then I definitely prefer guys like Ostberg having a decent drive. Citroen retiring would not automatically mean Peugeot coming in to replace them.

Peugeot coming back with a stronger effort would be nice indeed, however there's not certain sign of that at the moment, it depends a lot on the new technical regulations probably, so far they're promoting their R5 and maybe if the new tech regs are similar to that then there's a better chance.

[Francis44]

I think Peugeot will replace Citroen in the championship sooner than later. In the last couple of months we have seen an huge effort from Peugeot on offroad motorsport in general.

First they introduce the 208 R5, which looks competitive out of the box, and later they unveil their Dakar project, which leads me to believe that their motorsport budget is far from being small.

Maybe Peugeot left endurance circuit to focus entirely on rally and Dakar, and they will leave the circuits for Citroen.

To me Citroen cars were always the more "exclusive" side of PSA's technology, and circuits may suit their market's better. Peugeot was and still is in my heart that little crazy brother of Citroen, moche more extreme and rebelious. Peugeot is in my opinion much more suited for extreme sports such as rally and off-road.

[MikeD]

I think Peugeot will replace Citroen in the championship sooner than later. In the last couple of months we have seen an huge effort from Peugeot on offroad motorsport in general.

First they introduce the 208 R5, which looks competitive out of the box, and later they unveil their Dakar project, which leads me to believe that their motorsport budget is far from being small.

Maybe Peugeot left endurance circuit to focus entirely on rally and Dakar, and they will leave the circuits for Citroen.

To me Citroen cars were always the more "exclusive" side of PSA's technology, and circuits may suit there market's better. Peugeot was and still is in my heart that little crazy brother of Citroen, moche more extreme and rebelious. Peugeot is in my opinion mcuh more suitedited for extreme sports such as rally and off-road.

I agree.

PS: It's Citroën that's the smaller company of the two, so they would be the "little brother".

But one thing that's important to notice is that Citroën wanted to enter WTCC because of the global exposure to the right markets. For PSA it's still an issue that WRC is so focused on low growth (or even recession) countries in Europe. Only 3 rallies are outside Europe where Australis is one of them ... but it has no relevance to PSA. Mexico is good for PSA but Argentina isn't. The country has been in recession for 15 years or so because the two corrupt Kirchner idiots have ruined any chance of growth. Instead they steal foreign companies and make them goverend by the state (ref. to Repsol).
It's quite insane that WRC doesn't have a single round in Asia IMO. That might prevent Peugeot from entering...

PS: Please also notice that according to very reliable sources then both KIA and Alfa Romeo will join WTCC next year. That will give the series 6 manufacturers...

[Francis44]

I agree.

PS: It's Citroën that's the smaller company of the two, so they would be the "little brother".

But one thing that's important to notice is that Citroën wanted to enter WTCC because of the global exposure to the right markets. For PSA it's still an issue that WRC is so focused on low growth (or even recession) countries in Europe. Only 3 rallies are outside Europe where Australis is one of them ... but it has no relevance to PSA. Mexico is good for PSA but Argentina isn't. The country has been in recession for 15 years or so because the two corrupt Kirchner idiots have ruined any chance of growth. Instead they steal foreign companies and make them goverend by the state (ref. to Repsol).
It's quite insane that WRC doesn't have a single round in Asia IMO. That might prevent Peugeot from entering...

PS: Please also notice that according to very reliable sources then both KIA and Alfa Romeo will join WTCC next year. That will give the series 6 manufacturers...

The championship already had a round in Japan, and I remember hearing that China was also trying to host a candidate round. I also agree that there should be a rally thereabouts

Other thing to take in consideration is that European markets will not be in recession forever, the periods after a big recession are always good for business. I am sure PSA will want to take advantage of that. Is Argentina not an importante market for Citroen? The fact that they took Loeb there last year might suggest otherwise.

We will see how things stand in the next couple of years. I agree that the biggest mistake in the calendar is the missing an Asia round, other than that I do not see any interest in taking the championship to any other place.

Im curious to see what studies have those brands entering WTCC read to conclude the championship is good for marketing, data I have seen suggest WTCC is far from being a marketing powerhouse.

[rallyfiend]

I agree.

PS: It's Citroën that's the smaller company of the two, so they would be the "little brother".

But one thing that's important to notice is that Citroën wanted to enter WTCC because of the global exposure to the right markets. For PSA it's still an issue that WRC is so focused on low growth (or even recession) countries in Europe. Only 3 rallies are outside Europe where Australis is one of them ... but it has no relevance to PSA. Mexico is good for PSA but Argentina isn't. The country has been in recession for 15 years or so because the two corrupt Kirchner idiots have ruined any chance of growth. Instead they steal foreign companies and make them goverend by the state (ref. to Repsol).
It's quite insane that WRC doesn't have a single round in Asia IMO. That might prevent Peugeot from entering...

PS: Please also notice that according to very reliable sources then both KIA and Alfa Romeo will join WTCC next year. That will give the series 6 manufacturers...

Citroen chose to enter WTCC to keep hold of Loeb, and it was the only form of circuit racing they could realistically enter with their cars.

Argentina is a massive market for both Citroen and Peugeot. It's a big 'tick' on the WRC for them.

OH, and WTCC only has 3 manufacturers in it at the moment - Lada, Honda and now Citroen.

Chevy and Seat are privately run operations, and i don't think BMW even has a new generation car available....

[vino_93]

Africa is the next big thing ... the car market has a lof of potential, and nothing is done there. Moreover people are big fan of motorsport, and especially rally there. And it's the best place to promote rally car ... WRC should come back there.

[MikeD]

OH, and WTCC only has 3 manufacturers in it at the moment - Lada, Honda and now Citroen.

+ Alfa Romeo and KIA that will join next year.

Chevy and Seat are privately run operations, and i don't think BMW even has a new generation car available....

The 6 RML run Chevrolet's are TC1 spec and I didn't count BMW and SEAT as they are old non-factory backed spec in TC2.

Argentina is a massive market for both Citroen and Peugeot. It's a big 'tick' on the WRC for them.

No doubt it's one of their better markets, but it's not that massive, simply because there are 'only' 41 mio people living in Argentina ... there is 1.35 billion living in China. Citroën did say at the launch of their WTCC campaign that the fact that WTCC has 2 races in China (1 in mainland and 1 in Macau) were the most important thing for switching.

[MikeD]

The championship already had a round in Japan, and I remember hearing that China was also trying to host a candidate round. I also agree that there should be a rally thereabouts

It's not Japan that they are interested in. The fact that they sell more diapers (Source: Unilever & P&G) to old people in Japan than to babies say all about how non-interesting that country is. It's China, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar etc. that are interesting from a marketing point of view. According to the OECD Asia as a region will grow economically the most over the next 20 years.

This documentary - which I think is brilliant - tells you why it's Asia that's interesting and why WRC are in all the wrong places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz_kn45qIvI

[Zeakiwi]

Dong Feng are getting involved with PSA. I wonder if DF will get Peugeot Sport to make a Dakar race truck for them.
http://autonews.gasgoo.com/china-new...a-140415.shtml

I would expect World Rally cross to go (in the future) someplace like China(a stadium with controlled conditions) - where all the cars and equipment can be shifted with a one or two plane airlift.(like the aussie v8s have done to Texas or to the Middle East)

[KiwiWRCfan]

And here is a recent BBC article on PSA recovery plans for Citroen and Peugeot http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27020021