Reports are indicating that General Motors and PSA Peugeot-Citroën are more than likely on the path to downsize their business relationship before any products are even made, in light of the French automaker teaming up with Chinese automaker Dongfeng. If Dongfeng purchases a stake in PSA, it is said that GM may just cut its losses from the partnership, as it looks to keep its intellectual property secure from Dongfeng, a rival to GM’s Chinese joint-venture partner SAIC.
At the very least, PSA and GM “are moving forward with the implementation” of the projects which have already been agreed upon, Ulrich Weber, a GM spokesman, in an Automotive News report. That means the plans to build a new joint subcompact MPV in Zaragoza, Spain is still a go. However, other projects, like the planned joint-platform B-segment model, are being written off.
“We have other projects under review. Some projects are not economically feasible, which is why they are dropped, but we’re taking the projects one-by-one and examining their economic feasibility first,” said PSA spokesman Jean-Baptiste Thomas.
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End of September, Reuters reported (as reproduced in Autonews)
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General Motors Co.’s partnership with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen would survive even if China’s Dongfeng Motor takes a stake in the French automaker, GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said.
“We’re not PSA’s only partner so I don’t think it would complicate our situation any more than it would complicate some of their other partners,” Girsky said in New York on Friday, referring to a possible capital tie-up between PSA and Dongfeng.
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Steve Girsky is also the chairperson of the Adam Opel AG’s supervisory board.
Also please consider that most Chinese automakers have joint-ventures with several foreign companies, and those foreign companies have joint-ventures with several Chinese ones. SAIC e.g. is partnered both with VW and GM, VW and GM have also partnerships with FAW. PSA is partnered with Changan and Dongfeng. I can’t enumerated all those joint-ventures out of memory, so readers please search for yourself.
Those Chinese have their dong in everyfeng.