Peugeot UK is “thinking long and hard” about the timing of next year’s market launches of its much-needed new small cars, the radical 1007 – with sliding door mini MPV format – and the more mainstream 107 replacement for the 106.

Although the pioneering 1007 is provisionally due next May with the 107 arriving during the summer, Peugeot UK’s managing director, Christian Geraud, admits: “We could launch the 107 before the 1007. We must decide how to manage the introductions to stop them tripping over each other.”

Peugeot has lost sales and market share due to the lack of an entry-level small car after 106 supplies dried up last summer. The cheapest model is the £7,495 206 Style.

The 107 will be built with a Toyota counterpart at a joint Czech Republic factory and should benefit from keen pricing, courtesy of low production costs. The brand is down 6.8% over the first seven months of this year, which equates to 6,639 less cars registered up to the end of June.

Geraud said the 1007, the first car in its sector to use electric sliding doors, will cost “about £10,000” and generate 18,000 sales in a full year.