Citroen-Peugeot eyes China amid European slump

France's largest automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen is shifting its focus to emerging markets, especially China, as car sales in Europe continue to decline. Citroen's Asia chief Gregoire Olivier spoke to CCTV about why they made the move.

Gregoire Olivier, CEO of Asian Operations, PSA Peugeot Citroen, said, "We have confidence in China's auto market, which has become the world's largest and will continue to grow. Currently China has car ownership of 50 per thousand people, compared with a world average of 200. Therefore, we expect China to maintain a 10 percent growth rate each year for a long time to come."

The market for the company is currently worse than at the start of the year. Its European sales are forecast to be down by 8 percent, including a 12 percent drop in France.

The car maker is planning to cut 8,000 jobs from its French plants. While in China, it is opening more research and development centers. Citroen expects sales in China to contribute 15 percent to its global sales by 2015, up from 11 percent last year.