After months of the European Commission blocking French government subsidies to fund research into diesel-hybrids, PSA Peugeot Citroen is shifting its focus from mass-market hybrid diesels to diesel-hybrids made for high-end premium vehicles according to reports in the French media.

While vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight focus on mass-production vehicles that are affordable to a large market, PSA Peugeot Citroen’s move makes sense as small cars are already quite efficient with stand alone diesel engines while heavier premium vehicles still rely on powerful petrol engines to provide performance. Because of this shift in focus, delays to the release of hybrid-diesels from the manufacturer are likely. Previously PSA was working with automotive technology companies such as Continental and Bosch on a hybrid-diesel that would have been placed in the Peugeot 308 for a 2010 release but this deadline will no longer be met. To show it was serious about this technology, the company even produced a concept car based on its popular 308 model.

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