In an exclusive interview with DrivingVisionNews, Gilles Boussac, Product and Marketing Director for PSA, expressed the values Peugeot place on lighting and driver assistance in three primary terms:
- Style: headlamps and rear lights are key aesthetic identification attributes of PSA’s vehicles.
- Safety via enhanced lighting performance, as for example from Xenon and/or swiveling headlights, driver assistance systems like lane departure warning, Automatic hazard light, daytime running lamps, and automatic high/low beam switching
- Advanced technological image conveyed through new lighting and driver-assistance functions.
- Asked about suppliers, Boussac spoke of difficulties with quality and delivery schedules from lighting supplier partners:
“We sometimes were expecting them to be more than a simple equipment supplier; we were expecting an automotive lighting expert able to contribute actively to the carmaker choices. I have the feeling we have been faced with a loss of technical know-how on their side when the lighting equipment became more and more sophisticated. It also seemed to me that a certain number of suppliers lacked the ability to manage their full manufacturing environment, and more specifically their tools and machine suppliers.”