9:40 am, March 6, 2017
PSA GROUP, parent company of Citroen, Peugeot and DS, has secured a deal to buy the European arm of General Motors, which includes the British brand Vauxhall, for £1.9bn.
The arrangement has thrown into question the future of the 4,500 jobs currently held by employees working at both Opel and Vauxhall plants in the UK. However, the total number of employees in the UK including dealerships and supply chain is around 35,000.
Despite the carmaker generating a revenue of £15.3bn in 2016, GM Europe has not made a profit for more than 15 years.
However, the chairman of PSA’s managing board, Carlos Tavares, said that he expects the businesses’ performance to accelerate with their support, suggesting they intend to keep the brands in their current guises.
He said: ‘We are proud to join forces with Opel/Vauxhall and are deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround.
‘We respect all that Opel/Vauxhall’s talented people have achieved as well as the company’s fine brands and strong heritage. We intend to manage PSA and Opel/Vauxhall by capitalising on their respective brand identities.
‘Having already created together winning products for the European market, we know that Opel/Vauxhall is the right partner. We see this as a natural extension of our relationship and are eager to take it to the next level.’
Tavares added: ‘We are confident that the Opel/Vauxhall turnaround will significantly accelerate with our support, while respecting the commitments made by GM to the Opel/Vauxhall employees.’
The addition of Vauxhall and Opel will bring PSA’s share of the European new car market to 16 per cent.
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