New car sales are expected to shrink in the coming years, forcing automakers to make uncomfortable cuts and concessions now to avoid making painful decisions later. On top of that, the industry is facing rapid changes as autonomous and electric vehicles continue to make headway. Automakers are partnering up to share costs during this transition, and PSA Group, the French automaker, is looking for such cooperation so it can expand its worldwide footprint during these turbulent times. A report from Bloomberg says the company is open to not only partnering with a larger automaker but is also open to merging, too. One possible, though unlikely, candidate on the list—GM.
Last month, PSA announced it’d return to the U.S. with its Peugeot brand. This would be the first time since 1991 Peugeot has been sold in the U.S. It left the market after an abysmal sales year. According to sources who spoke with Bloomberg and asked not be identified, PSA Group Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares has met with advisers about possible partnerships and mergers.
As of right now, a plethora of automakers could serve as potential partners, including GM. However, the likelihood of such a deal is slim. Less than two years ago, GM sold its European Opel-Vauxhall unit to PSA Group for €2.2 billion. The sale was crucial for PSA’s growth, which included plans to return to North America. GM sold the two brands as a way to shed low-profit brands and services, using the money to invest in emerging technologies such as electric and autonomous vehicles. GM parenting or merging with PSA would again saddle the automaker with a slew European car brands.
Exactly when Peugeot will return to North America is still up in the air, but the company has floated 2026 as the year it’ll return. At first, Opel was believed to be the brand PSA would use to return to the U.S., competing against the likes of Chevrolet. Now that PSA has announced it’ll return with Peugeot, with headquarters in Atlanta, the company could aim to take on the likes of Buick and Cadillac.
Comments
Brexit is already killing the European auto market.
Who could Peugeot partner up with?
Would investing in a new Peugeot Dealership be a wise investment?
I look at how hard it is for even the Volkswagen brand to pick up just a fraction of market share in the U.S. market. In spite of VW having a very good product offering.
Oh god I pray no.
Also if they are looking for a partner that is not a good sign if they can’t go it alone.
GM doesn’t really care worldwide market much and only focus America and China and shaves some of model recently.
For PSA, they do really well in worldwide.
Partnering with GM again isn’t really bad ideal, they can share the platforms and techs to get lower cost and share the dealership to help both selling the cars.
No part of me thinks this is a good idea. Not at all. The US Auto industry is vicious right now. Look at Fiat, and how awful they do here. Entering the market anytime soon would be a stupid move, unless you have a product that blows everyone else out of the water.
Chevrolet… Cadillac… Peugeot. GM is would be very French if they did.
GM, Peugeot, and Honda, that would be an unbeatable combo.
GM Honda Gr8
And it would never work,
And it would never work.
Peugeot has nothing to compete with Cadillac. Citroen could compete with Buick not Cadillac. Maybe DS but still a stretch. Now that Opel is making a profit maybe a merger would work.
Peugeot has a nice line of commercial vans that GM could use to replace the ancient Savana/Express. The vans could be built in Lordstown or Hamtramck. The space left over at Wentzville from the vans leaving could be used to build the Trailblazer SUV that is offered in other countries.
Yes! PSA under Taveres has made a solid turn around with healthy margins, higher quality and a strong balance sheet.
An alliance, like Renault and Nissan, would make GM a global brand once again. GM didn’t sell Opel because it was “low margin”; Opel was sold because GM failed to turn a European profit for 20 years.
Ford and Volkswagen are forming an alliance, I wonder why GM doesn’t take a small stake in the new company PSA formed after merging with a company GM had an alliance with in the past, and allow Daimler and BMW to take small stakes. Perhaps it’s time to get past alliances back together.
I could see GM doing something like that. Sell PSA a company that you have been losing money on for years (and for a bargain rate I might add) .They turn it into a money maker in less than two years. Then they help the get established in the US to compete against them. Kind of like the deal with fiat that they payed a ton of money to buy a piece of then turn around and pay them another ton of money to get out of he deal. Now look at Fiat who before that was almost broke now back in the US competing against GM.
PSA and GM = Disaster
What an idea that Peugeot could be competing with Buick or Cadillac? Peugeot in Europe is seen as a VW / Fiat / Renault competitor, meaning competing with Chevy at best. They can never measure up to Buick or Cadillac… And their reliability is… well, very French. It’ll never work.
I’m French, so I can tell you are wrong saying that. Peugeot is seen an equivalent option to VW right now since its revolution 5/6 years ago. Products are more refined and reliable. It is what we can call an “access-premium” brand, not like Renault, Fiat or Citroën (sadly) which are “Chevy-like” common-generalists. Compete Cadillac ? Certainly not, but actually Buick, Mazda and Honda could be the targets. I don’t know how Peugeot is going to perform in the US, but if sales don’t takeoff it won’t be because of quality or reliability (look at the new 508, 308 & 3008/5008).
I agree with you. My parents owned 403, 504, and 505 Peugeots and they were very good cars. They traded their 403 for a 190 Mercedes-Benz and the 403 was a much better car. Peugeot has had very good engineering and styling over the years. Peugeot won 3 early Indianapolis 500’s with a light race car equipped with a small displacement dual overhead cam 4 cylinder race car engine. This race car was arguably the first modern race car. Offenhsuser patterned its race car engine after Peugeot’s engine. More recently, Peugeot has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Rally Championship, and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb several times.