Q&A With Peugeot Sport’s Emmanuel Esnault & Point S’ Fabien Bouquet

For both:
Q: What specific challenges or objectives were each of you trying to address when this partnership was first created? 
Fabien Bouquet (FB): For Point S, this partnership with Peugeot Sport is a source of internal pride and motivation, tapping into the passion for motorsport shared by our 33,000 employees working across the globe. Cooperating today in a competitive landscape with Peugeot – a world-renowned manufacturer also founded in France – is particularly inspiring for our French founders, who started the network over half a century ago.

Emmanuel Esnault (EE): The specific objectives that form the basis of the partnership relate to two companies that share the same ambition of trying to be the best in their field and shine internationally. The Peugeot 9X8 in world endurance racing is a perfect platform for Point S to showcase their retail group and highlight their own demonstration of performance.

Q: How does this year’s livery communicate a different narrative compared to last year’s design? 
FB: This new visual edition of the 9X8 feels more aggressive than the previous version. To me, it illustrates the continuous progression Peugeot Sport has demonstrated since its return to the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The two podiums achieved last season demonstrate the team’s maturity and its ability to climb even higher in the rankings for the 2026 season. Our 33,000 internal Point S fans of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies will be there – both trackside and behind their screens – to support Peugeot Sport throughout the year.

EE: A new livery is always like a new chapter, so it’s a sort of reset at the start of the season where you renew your ambition. In setting the objective, we hope to inspire and motivate everyone involved in the project, from drivers to partners and supporters.

Q: A pit stop is measured in seconds, while a customer service visit is measured in trust – where do you see the common ground between the two? 
FB: Speed in decision-making and execution is paramount during competitive pit stops. This is equally true in our Point S centres every day. Optimising the time a vehicle is immobilised in our workshops is a core part of our customer promise, as illustrated by our brand signature: “No Stress with Point S.”

EE: The common ground is making the right decision and not mixing speed with hurry. A pit stop is like a choreography; you have to master every single aspect of the ballet to deliver the right outcome, which is changing the tyres and refuelling the car in the shortest amount of time.

Q: Does “speed” primarily refer to elapsed time, or instead to precision and effectiveness under pressure? 
FB: In our business, it is a combination of both. However, the implementation of clear procedures and the continuous training of our employees are designed to minimise the pressure felt by our teams.

EE: It’s naturally a mixture of both. You have to be quick but also precise, making the best decision in a very short amount of time, whether it’s a race strategy decision or a car setup decision. In our field, time is the biggest challenge, but you have to manage it with the right approach in order to not lose time and make mistakes.

Q: In motorsport, a rushed pit stop can lose a race. In servicing, a rushed repair can lose a customer. How do you balance urgency with perfection? 
FB: Speed and quality of execution are compatible when they are built upon a high level of expertise and training. That is our approach at Point S, and this ethos is rolled out across our global network.

EE: As with the previous question, balancing urgency with perfection is a matter of making the right decision at the right time. For us, this means maximising our organisation so that we have the right people with the right level of expertise at the right place. It’s important to be able to trust the expertise of every single member of the team, which will naturally help us make quick decisions in the ‘perfect’ way.

Q: The livery may evolve season to season – what remains unchanged in the partnership itself? 
FB: Our partnership is based on shared values between our two companies, but also on a consistent relationship between our teams. Human values are vital to the culture across the Point S network, and we have successfully preserved them – even within the multicultural dimension we operate in today as a result of our global footprint. We have found that these values are also prominent within the team spirit and the powerful collective motivation that drives everyone at Peugeot Sport.

EE: What remains unchanged is the values shared by two partners. Perhaps the most important of these values is the unrelenting desire of both Point S and Peugeot Sport to chase performance in everything that we do. Both parties have the integral goal of achieving the best possible outcome for ourselves and our partners.

Q: How would you describe the partnership? 
FB: We are happy and proud to be a partner of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, as Peugeot Sport and the WEC embody the sporting and human values that have been part of the Point S DNA since we were founded 55 years ago. My mind is particularly drawn to our competitive culture, which has been developed as a result of operating in the highly contested automotive after-sales market. Our network has a cooperative culture, as is demonstrated by the majority of our franchisees also being our shareholders. As such, we are closely linked to the collective teamwork that drives every member of the Peugeot Sport team, from technicians and engineers to the drivers. And, of course, we share a deep passion for motor racing.

EE: It’s always a pleasure to see that a French company with such history is partnering with us in with our Hypercar. Like Point S, we are also a French company with the same ambition to challenge competitors around the world, so having the Point S logo on our car shows the trust that Point S has in our ability to deliver.

Q: What has endurance racing taught you about reliability versus outright performance? 
FB: An endurance race is won by optimising average performance over time – it relies on collective intelligence and mobilisation. As we saw throughout the 2025 season, tyre wear management strategy is increasingly becoming a key success factor in endurance racing.

Q: Does the livery visually represent the shared values between Point S and Peugeot Sport? 
FB: The new colours of the 9X8 evoke the design codes of Peugeot’s “GTI” road models, and specifically the car that largely defined the brand’s sporting identity: the 205 GTI, which became a cultural icon of its era. I believe it is essential for any brand to never lose its cultural heritage and to know how to leverage that heritage to reinvent itself. This is exactly how we manage the Point S brand. While our service offering is very broad today and continues to grow with new expertise, we have never forgotten to maintain our reputation for high-level tyre expertise, which was our very first customer promise over 50 years ago.

Q: What lessons from race operations translate directly to independent workshops? 
FB: In a racing team, just like in a Point S point of sale, every team member must know how to work together, bringing their full commitment to their respective fields of expertise. A race, especially in endurance, is won on the track through the talent of the drivers, but also in the pits through the work of the technicians and engineers. In a Point S centre, customer satisfaction relies on both the quality of the commercial welcome and the technical expertise of the teams in the workshop.

Q: Which endurance-racing learnings realistically transfer to road cars or aftermarket servicing? 
EE: The specifics of racing and motorsport in general is the time frame, and by this I mean that you have to develop technical solutions or processes in a very short time. This often triggers some developments or new concepts that can be used later on road cars or across the automotive industry.

Q: Was the livery design driven more by brand identity, performance philosophy or fan engagement? 
EE: Our first priority was the identity of our brand, because the design is related to the brand’s product plan. As Fabien has alluded to, red and black are linked closely to the Peugeot GTI environment, which has a lot of history within Peugeot Sport. Our performance philosophy is to reflect this; in racing, we always push to do the best and deliver the maximum performance we can. And, of course, we want to engage our fans, because without fans, there is no racing.

Q: If someone sees the car for three seconds at speed, what should they instantly understand? 
EE: Right away, people should immediately see a Peugeot car and associate the car with partners such as Point S.