VW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder has hit out at French competitors on discounting, and Jean-Martin Folz hit straight back.

Autoactu.com reports that the atmosphere at the Frankfurt Motor Show got a little heated the day before the show opened to the public, when Bernd Pischetsrieder, speaking at the launch of the new Golf, confirmed that VW had no intention of buying market share with 15-20% discounts – unlike its French competitors.

PSA Peugeot Citroen CEO Jean-Martin Folz immediately responded that the means of acquiring market share was visible in the results: “You only have to compare the evolution of operating margins,” he said, noting a 75.4% decline in that of VW compared to a 27.4% decline in that of his own group. French broadsheet Le Monde attributed the sharpness of the exchange to an increasingly competitive European market, and to the growing shares of Toyota and other Japanese and Asian manufacturers.