
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003091831
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEUGEOT DENIES BOYCOTT EFFECT

A Virginia-based national consumer group that began a boycott against Peugeot in August 1988, saying the cars are not safe and need air bags, is now taking credit for the company's loss in sales.

Motor Voters President Rosemary Dunlap of McLean said Peugeot only made 6,054 of the 20,000 sales it had projected for 1989. "The boycott had to be responsible for some of that drop," Dunlap said.

Sales at Salem's Dominion Dodge-Peugeot were not hurt, said Andy Kaplan, general manager. Dominion Dodge-Peugeot is the Roanoke Valley's only Peugeot dealership. About 30 were sold there last year, Kaplan said.

"The best-selling car in the U.S. is the Honda Accord and it doesn't have air bags," he said. "I don't understand why Peugeot is being singled out this year."

The four-door Peugeot 505S, which has an automatic crash protection system, exceeded danger levels in head and chest crash tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Eilene McDonnell, public relations coordinator at Peugeot's national headquarters in Lyndhurst, N.J., said tests by the Highway Loss and Data Institute rated the Peugeot 505S as average, along with Volvos and Hondas.

by CNB