Inchcape has walked away from another Stellantis brand, announcing it will end its distribution partnership with Peugeot in Australia.
The decision follows the company’s axing of Citroën last year and continues a pattern that has seen the global automotive distributor steadily retreat from underperforming French brands. It also comes after Inchcape declined to take on DS Automobiles when the premium French marque was left without an Australian importer, leaving the brand absent from the local market.
While Peugeot will continue in Australia under a new distribution arrangement to be announced by Stellantis, the timing of Inchcape’s departure is predictable and expected.
First we have to talk about Stellantis
According to the latest VFACTS figures, Peugeot sold a miserable 373 vehicles in Australia during the first five months of 2026, down 35.0% compared with this time last year. In May alone, the brand managed only 53 sales, an unsustainable figure long term.
Those numbers place Peugeot among the poorest-performing mainstream brands in the market and highlight the challenges facing Stellantis in Australia as it does in all other markets. Peugeot has struggled for decades with a combination of unsuitable product and the move to underpowered, highly strung drivelines.
The Australian new vehicle market is down 2.2% year-to-date, with 475,659 vehicles delivered through May. Yet Peugeot’s sad slide is far steeper than can be explained by mere market grumps. Sadly, Peugeot is far from the only offender in the Stellantis portfolio, most brands are heading in the wrong direction.
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ABOVE: Stellantis and Inchape brands
Alfa Romeo has recorded just 116 sales year-to-date, down 46.8% Fiat has delivered 131 vehicles, down 24.3%. Jeep, once a significant player in the Australian SUV market, has slumped to just 296 sales, down a staggering 66.2%. Maserati is down 33.9% with 80 sales for the year. Even Citroën, before Inchcape discontinued the brand locally, had become little more than a footnote in the sales charts, recording just three deliveries for the year.
The only bright spot in the Stellantis orbit is Leapmotor.
The Chinese electric vehicle brand, half owned by Stellantis, has delivered 529 vehicles so far this year, up 112.4% on 2025. While the volumes remain bijou, it stands as the sole Stellantis-related brand not heading south.
Against that “poor Stellantis” backdrop, Inchcape’s decision to abandon Peugeot after promising to “be in it for the long run,” looks less like an isolated event and more a sign of bigger things to come elsewhere in legacy land.
In a statement announcing the move, Inchcape said it continuously reviews its brand partnerships to ensure they align with its strategic growth objectives. Inchape also expects brand loyalty from buyers, and is happy to give reallignments in return.
“As part of Inchcape’s standard approach to portfolio management, we continuously review our partnerships to ensure we have the right portfolio of brands for our business, aligned with our strategic growth objectives,” the company said, firmly putting owners last.
Saying the company confirmed it had “mutually agreed” with Stellantis to end the distribution arrangement, with a final date to be determined following a transition period, is cold comfort to remaining loyal buyers. Resale values should make for interesting reading and is hardly likely to cause a run on Peugeot showrooms. What a shocking way to treat both buyers and dealers.
Despite this subsequent, abrupt market withdrawal, owners will continue to receive warranty support, servicing, recall work and access to genuine Peugeot parts while a new distributor is identified. It is another Inchcape promise, so it must be true.
Long term GayCarBoys readers will recall during 2023 EV launches, Inchcape HQ publicly assured the Australian market of a long-term commitment to Peugeot, promising a pipeline of new models including the E-208, E-Expert, and E-3008. This is further backed by internal documents from January 2026 further outlining a structured roadmap with planned BEV and hybrid releases.
The French brand will be a challenge for whoever takes over.
Meanwhile, Stellantis confirmed Peugeot will remain in Australia, although details of its future distribution model have yet to be revealed. Hold on, haven’t we heard this before?
Peugeot’s local line-up has been reduced to a mere niche offering competing against an increasingly crowded market. Traditional European brands were already under pressure from Korean rivals, and that was before a tidal wave of Chinese manufacturers began to wash over the Australian landscape.
Brands such as BYD, Chery, Geely and Omoda Jaecoo have all recorded growth this year, reforming the competitive landscape in a way we have not previously experienced. The intense pressure on lower-volume European imports is only going to accelerate the change.
Is Stellantis really the problem?
Also consider that Inchcape also imports Subaru. This is another brand on the skids, 22% down on 2025. While Inchcape shifts its focus toward new bets, its legacy partnerships are being discarded.
Having binned those long-standing badges familiar to many, Inchcape’s highly publicised shift toward new Chinese brands is already looking shaky. The distributor’s premium electric vehicle play, Deepal, managed a whole 594 registrations across the first five months of the year before hitting a rather large pothole. A major compliance failure forced a total stop-sale and delivery pause on its flagship E07 crossover. The factory completely overlooked local child-restraint anchorage mandates under Australian Design Rule 34/03. The oversight triggered an immediate safety recall of 218 vehicles, freezing local inventory until a fix can be retrofitted.
The Future:
Citroën has already been shown the door. DS never made it into the portfolio when the opportunity arose. Now Peugeot joins the pyre
Inchcape openly states that its global distribution strategy relies on a capital-light model. Because they don’t own the factories, they have very little skin in the game. When a brand’s volume dips, it is financially effortless for Inchcape to drop the contract, pack up, and walk away, leaving the brand’s local reputation to flutter in the breeze.
Whether Stellantis can reverse the fortunes of its traditional brands remains to be seen. For now, the numbers tell a difficult story. As for Inchcape, it has Subaru, Deepal, and Foton under its leaking brolly, another difficult story.
Inchcape Portfolio
| Brand | Five-Month Volume (Jan-May) | Monthly Run Rate |
| Subaru | 10,890 | 2,178 |
| Deepal | 855 | 171 |
| Foton | 640 | 128 |
| Peugeot (Dropped) | 373 | 75 |
| Citroen (Servicing Only) | 5 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 12,763 | 2,553 |
Stellantis Australia Portfolio
| Brand | Five-Month Volume (Jan-May) | Monthly Run Rate |
| RAM | 885 | 177 |
| Leapmotor | 290 | 58 |
| Jeep | 285 | 57 |
| Alfa Romeo | 240 | 48 |
| Fiat | 70 | 14 |
| TOTAL | 1,770 | 354 |
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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