The sale of Opel and Vauxhall is all but official. PSA Group is set to become the new owner of General Motors’ European divisions ahead of the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, according to previous reports.
And barring any unforeseen circumstances, Opel’s new owner may be looking to expand the marque outside of Europe.
Automotive News reports PSA CEO Carlos Tavares is eying up additional markets outside of Europe to potentially sell the Opel brand. The idea is that there are many markets where consumers won’t consider a French vehicle. Opel’s lineage as a German automaker may be the ticket into new markets for PSA, then.
“The business sense is to make sure that we can capture a wider consumer base,” Tavares told AN. “In some markets in the world, we have customers who, despite all the progress that we’ve made, will not consider a French brand.”
Tavares did not go into greater detail when pressed on which markets he’d like to see Opel introduced, including the potential for a U.S. introduction.
Opel has not turned a profit for the brand’s current owner, GM, since 1999.
Comments
PSA will do the work that GM could not or did not want to do.
A rebirth of the Admiral an the GT…
Will see.
I agree there would seem to be a lot of untapped opportunities that GM didn’t for corporate reasons (conflict with their daft idea that Chevrolet could be a world brand) but Auto News have also reported that GM are rumoured to be adding clauses into the takeover regarding selling the current Vauxhall-Opel vehicles in certain markets not least of which is the US and I would assume Australia. Which raises the question of what becomes of Holden in all this or is the Oz Lion the next casualty on the list?
Rumer was just as a few hours ago that GM was demanding that PSA would not sell Opel in certain markets if sale goes through.
It is self evident that PSA as new owner of Opel will use the brand in all markets world wide. Wherever they deem it profitable.
But “Der Spiegel” reports in an article appearing this weekend, that GM is objecting exports of Opel vehicles built with GM technology to North America, China and the Russian Federation.
www .spiegel .de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/opel-verkauf-an-peugeot-general-motors-stellt-bedingungen-a-1136126.html
And that licence would have to be paid to GM for the continued production of cars with GM technology.
Well I would wager ther is more to this than any of us know.
Often deals like this the seller takes a percentage of sales for so many years. They also may have a non compete clause on markets GM is already in with similar models.
The legal people who write up deals like this cover al, there bases.
I would not worry about GM losing out on much.
PSA will need to make many changes to just make a profit. If GM is not a part of the deal PSA will have a lot of development to do or pay GM for there designs and properties.
I suggest again lets wait for all the details to come out and we can make an informed judgement this vs just half a$$ing this into a panic of critisasim that is unfounded.
this is good business all group PSA and Gm and they coporate future is smart to- they have family. families have secrets, too, because they have family business. i think all things goes better all of you
lets go and buy shares now