PSA Peugeot Citroen has secured a €200m (US$259m) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
According to French carmaker, the loan is designed to develop a new technology that will enable PSA Peugeot Citroen to maintain its lead in the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Five hundred PSA Peugeot Citroen employees are working on the project, which will be developed entirely in France, at the Velizy Technical Centre.
PSA plans to invest a total of 400 million euros in its efforts to develop diesel-electric plug-in hybrid technology for multi-purpose vehicles, half of which will be provided by the French carmaker itself.
The first version of the new technology is due to be unveiled in 2012 based on the Prologue concept (pictured above), PSA said in a statement on Thursday.
The loan was granted under the European Clean Transport Facility (ECTF) financing program.
PSA sees hybrid and electric vehicles accounting for around 20 percent of the world car market in 2020.
PSA plans to introduce two electric vehicles based on Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV in Europe later this year – the Peugeot iOn and the Citroen C-Zero.
