Opel Chief Rules Out Fiat Deal, But Agrees With Fiat CEO In Principle
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Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has dismissed the possibility of a deal with the Fiat-Chrysler group, echoing the sentiment and business direction of General Motors CEO Mary Barra. Neumann did, however, say that he sees the the need to improve sales volume, scale and utilization in the auto industry and at Opel.
“In principle (Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio) Marchionne is right, the auto industry develops the same things ten times over,” Neumann said, referring to an email sent by Marchionne to GM CEO Mary Barra in March suggesting merging or otherwise creating a deep collaboration between the two automakers.
For its part, Opel seems to be content on deriving scale from within General Motors, a luxury that Marchionne doesn’t have in the relatively low-volume Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Ferrari operations. Meanwhile, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, which was acquired by Fiat after the bankruptcy of Chrysler, has very little international scale outside of North America.
Part of Marchionne’s push for an alliance are stringent emissions regulations in Europe, which require the development of next-generation engines that are smaller and more environmentally friendly. To note, Europe has mandated that fleets have emissions of an average of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. As such, automakers can cut the cost of making these next generation engines by sharing development costs.
Neuman also stated that seeking scale by partnering with Peugeot Citroën was a mistake, and that Opel must find such scale within GM instead.
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Opel needs to stay far away from FCA. The Adam covers the city car niche, and Fiat has nothing to offer and would just suck like a parasite.
PSA actually has advanced technology and can be used for anything GM can not make available.
I’m starting to think that GM needs to reorganize Opel and make it a global brand through full control of Holden and Buick just like the arrangement with Vauxhall.
This could allow for less GM central planning if the company was broken into three divisions.
http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/opel-gesamtbetriebsratschef-wolfgang-schaefer-klug–wir-werden-mit-buick-expandieren-,10808230,24285002.html
In German:
Interviewer:”Was bedeutet es, dass Frau Müller zugleich auch Marketingchefin von Buick ist?”
Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug: “Das ist das eigentlich Spannende an ihrem Job. Jetzt besteht die Möglichkeit, Opel und Buick gemeinsam strategisch von Rüsselsheim aus global zu führen. ”
In English:
Interviewer:”What does it mean that Ms Müller is also Chief Marketing Officer for Buick at the same time?”
Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug:”This is actually the most exciting part of her job. Now there is the possiblity to strategically manage Opel and Buick together from Ruesselsheim.”
General Motors gave Opel access to the North American market through Buick. I am not sure for Buick China though, but it will most likely keep its autonomy and still designing or producing its own unique Buick or heavily modified Opel vehicles, thus it wouldn’t be a big surprise when, e.g., the next Chinese Buick Regal will receive a waterfall grill or a different front whereas the American Buick Regal will be identical to the Opel Insignia except for the badge.
i found this new film grip magasin