PSA Peugeot Citroen has set itself a target of 3m vehicle sales this year after today announcing an 80% increase in 2000 in net profits. The growth in sales will come from an accelerated product roll-out.

The groups' net income increased from £461m in 1999 to £831m in 2000, with unit sales of 2,815700. By 2004 sales are forecast to reach 3.5m.

The sales increases, PSA says, will come from new model launches, particularly the Citroen C5 and Peugeot 307, and the introduction of “key technologies” such as the 2.0 and 2.2-litre HDI engine, a new generation of smaller HDI engines, the HPI direct injection engine and the particle filter.

By 2004 the group wants a 10% market share in all western European countries, expect Germany where the objective is 6.5%. To the end of January this year Peugeot's market share was 7.56% in the UK and Citroen's 2.81%.

New models will also be introduced at a faster rate, with 25 new models scheduled for roll-out between 2001-04 compared with nine in 1997-2000.