German manufacturer Opel has been sold by American company GM to the PSA Group (Peugeot-Citroën-DS). A deal that allows the French carmaker to access the electric and fuel cell technology of the American giant.
The French PSA Group, which owns the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands, has acquired Opel. After 88 years, the German brand is leaving the sphere of control of American company General Motors. A deal with a total value of 2.2 billion euros that opens a new chapter in the history of the automotive industry and creates the second-largest European group, after Volkswagen, with a market share of over 17 per cent. An epochal change that promises to have repercussions on the development of the new generation of electric vehicles announced by GM last year.
PSA's acquisition of Opel includes all automotive operations, including British subsidiary Vauxhall, eleven production plants and the engineering centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany. According to French estimates, by 2026 the deal will deliver economies of scale and industrial synergies quantifiable at 1.7 billion euros, and Opel, after sixteen years of losses, should return to a positive cash flow. "We are proud to join forces with Opel and Vauxhall," declared PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares, specifying that the identity and history of the brands will be respected. The positioning of the brands will remain unchanged, although there are currently numerous product overlaps, while the preservation of all jobs is not certain, given that union negotiations leave room for an assessment of the efficiency of individual production sites.
As far as General Motors is concerned, the sale of Opel is considered an "important step forward in the industrial strategy," as declared by chief executive Mary Barra, because it allows the American group to concentrate investments in China and North America as well as on new technologies, primarily battery propulsion and autonomous driving. On the eve of the historic transition, Opel's top management had outlined a plan for the progressive electrification of the German brand. A project whose standard-bearer was the zero-emission MPV Ampera-e, the twin of the Chevrolet Bolt, as the forerunner of a new family of zero-emission vehicles. Indeed, GM and Opel have confirmed their collaboration on sustainable mobility — Chevrolet is in fact part of the Detroit giant — and the PSA Group itself could draw on the electric technology by paying royalties. A horizon that takes on a green hue, given that the French would like to leverage their privileged relationship with the Detroit giant to also access the new fuel cells, and therefore hydrogen propulsion, born from the recent partnership between GM and Japan's Honda.
Access to GM's electric technology is, according to some stock market analysts, the cornerstone explaining PSA Group's acquisition of Opel. The French will indeed be called upon to radically cut costs, and in all likelihood employment, in order to deliver the economies of scale that CEO Tavares spoke of, but at the same time they will be able to expand in a direction in which they had not previously been major players, moving to stake a claim in the sustainable mobility market, considered crucial from 2025 onwards. A further consequence of the transaction is that the debut of shared models, provided for under the industrial alliance that GM and PSA had forged five years ago, will be accelerated. Starting with the Opel Crossland X crossover, which borrows certain structural elements from the Peugeot 3008. The latter is the second piece of the PSA Group's "magic moment," having recently enabled Peugeot to claim the title of "Car of the Year 2017" for the fifth time in its history.
The Peugeot 3008 won the Car of the Year 2017 award, beating off competition from the Alfa Romeo Giulia and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Recognition not only of the model's qualities, but also of its segment, that of SUVs, for the first time occupying the top step of both the competition and the market. The success of the 3008 is partly linked to the boldness shown by the designers at the House of the Lion who, radically changing direction compared to the past, transformed the car — originally an MPV — into a crossover, betting on an aggressive line and a striking personality inside the cabin. A boldness that the PSA Group confirmed by launching the car sharing app Free2Move, capable of aggregating the services of twenty different operators, in Italy as well. Free of charge and available for Apple, Android and Windows Phone smartphones, it brings together various transport solutions, ranging from cars to bicycles and scooters alike. In Italy it is active in cities such as Turin, Milan and Rome, while abroad it covers Germany, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The PSA Group's horizon is increasingly sustainable.