The PSA Group has begun offering two fleet management solutions to U.S. corporations ahead of its reintroduction of Peugeot vehicles in the next decade, an executive told Automotive Fleet.

The French automaker, which began offering Connect Fleet and Fleet Sharing in late September, began its toehold in the U.S. in 2017 with its Free2Move carsharing service in Washington, D.C. The products have been offered in Europe and other markets.

PSA's new telematics products fall under its Free2Move Business Solutions division. On Oct. 16, PSA Group named Lisa Mark chief marketing officer and vice president to oversee the brand's return to the U.S., which is expected by 2026. Peugeot vehicles were last sold in the U.S. in 1991.

The company is offering the telematics solutions as stand-along products. They could eventually be paired with a lineup of smaller vans, which the company currently does in Europe. PSA now offers the Partner compact van, Expert midsize van, and Boxer full-size cargo van.

There are now 300,000 vehicles and 6,000 fleet customers globally that are now using PSA's telematics solution. The company uses white label hardware and software from Kuantic. The products can be installed in any vehicle or integrated into the company's existing transportation app.

With the move, PSA is entering a competitive track-and-trace market that's now dominated by large vendors such as Verizon Connect, Geotab, and many smaller providers.

"This is a very crowded, competitive space," said Michael Lamontagne, PSA North America's head of business solutions. "You have some very big players. From an offering standpoint, our solution combines very strong hardware with the adaptability of the SIM card. It sits on a Cisco platform. It provides a wealth of reports, and can capture up to 300 data points. It's a very adaptable and strong platform."

PSA is offering Connect Fleet and a bundle of the two products. While Connect Fleet is a traditional track-and-trace telematics product, Fleet Sharing is a corporate carpool platform that also provides employees with a mobile app they can use to schedule pool cars. The company may offer it to government fleet managers, Lamontagne said.

PSA has also announced it will offer its Free2Move telematics platform in Brazil for fleet managers using Peugeot and Citroen vehicles to help calculate total cost of ownership.

In July, the company reported that by the end of the year it will have 20,000 passenger and commercial vehicles available for short-term rentals at 1,300 branches in Europe under the product Free2Move Rent. The vehicles include Peugeot, Citroen, DS Automobiles, Opel, and Vauxhall brands.