This morning, news broke that General Motors was considering the sale of Opel-Vauxhall to PSA Group, comprised of Peugeot, Citroen and DS. The original report broke from PSA’s confirmation it was indeed deep in discussion and in “advanced” talks to acquire the Opel and Vauxhall brands from GM.
GM has officially released a statement on the matter. It reads as follows:
Since 2012, General Motors and PSA Group have been implementing an alliance covering, to date, three projects in Europe and generating substantial synergies for the two groups. Within this framework, General Motors and PSA Group regularly examine additional expansion and cooperation possibilities, as well. PSA Group and General Motors confirm they are exploring numerous strategic initiatives aiming at improving profitability and operational efficiency, including a potential acquisition of Opel Vauxhall by PSA.
There can be no assurance that an agreement will be reached.
GM and PSA previously partnered up for future vehicle collaborations, but GM ultimately sold its stake in PSA off in 2013. Since then, GM has stated vehicle collaboration programs would survive the first product cycle, which we’ve seen in the Opel Crossland X and upcoming Grandland X crossovers.
Should a deal be reached, the original report states GM would hold some sort of stake in the “combined entity.”
Comments
MY EYES!!!
What am I reading??
Gm sell opel and peace. Build holden and all happy
Foolish move. Opel produces some really nice vehicles and is a big asset to Buick.
so why haven’t they made a profit this century?
Merger, Gm/opel-PSA.
This is the only smart move but French Government and China would be problematic.
Psa is better car builder today than opel, better than many germans , littlebit like vw or even better. But ok no vw is better . brand vw not all vw consern
Hope they don’t do it – when Peugeot took over the Chrysler operations in Europe they closed U.K. And French Production and got rid of the brands Talbot, Simca and maybe others. Same will happen again !
This is unbearable!! Please just announce a deal could not be made and Opel/Vauxhall still be in the hands of GM and not some cheap rubbish French car maker.
Mary Barra is horrible. Opel makes GMs global products. She might as well sell Buick, too.
This would be a disastrous move for GM. What really needs to happen is the sharing of vehicles from across GM’s brands to be sold worldwide. As a example, Vauxhall/Opel need a prestige saloon/sedan at the top of their brands and could be achieved by badge engineering a Cadillac CTS (a replacement for the Omega last seen in 2003). If they sell to PSA, the Buick and Holden brands will also cease as they are essentially badge engineered Opel’s. It seems that Wall Street has too much involvement in GM and that GM should just make cars for the world. A few ideas for GM….
1. Bring back brands like Pontiac
2. Get all brands together to make cars to fit markets and stop the needless duplication of types.
3. Invest more in overseas markets like Europe and Australia by beefing up the Opel, Vauxhall and Holden brands.
4. Tell Wall Street to Butt Out so that they can make and sell cars. Wall Street makes money…not cars.
5. Maybe even simply make GM a single brand as per BMW and Mercedes and sell vehicles the world over.
Finally, I expect this move by GM for so long.
I am convinced that if he can sell Opel and Vauxhall to PSA Group, GM will have more platforms and technologies to deploy the Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet.
Chevrolet to use as a generalist brand, Buick and Cadillac as premium brands.
I think GM should enter only Cadillac as a luxury brand for the European market, will remove many customers in BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus, Jaguar.