Article in Auto News Europe reports that Peugeot Citroën Moteurs Group new direction is “frugal innovation,” says Europe boss Denis Martin.

PSA is Europe’s second largest carmaker after Volkswagen Group but only sells about 3 million vehicles globally, while VW Group’s worldwide volume is more than three times larger. “It’s not a question of size, it’s a question of agility,” Martin told the Automotive News Europe Congress here last week. He described PSA’s new direction as “frugal innovation.”

Said Martin: “We have changed our mindset for r&d and capital expenditure. We will optimize each euro.”

Before CEO Carlos Tavares launched a focus on controlling expenditure PSA was old fashioned with a “no risk spirit,” Martin said. “Parts of PSA still ran on the kind of old-style bureaucracy you find in some traditional companies, with people working in separate silos. It is for this reason that we were in a particularly deep crisis in 2013.”