Battle travel | 배틀 트립 - Ep.33: Dara turn [ENG / 01.29.2017]
Most Americans outside of the automotive industry have probably never heard of PSA Group or its units Peugeot Citroën and two of the most legendary car brands in Europe with stories that date back to 1889 and 1919 but it could change term the French company, which recently signed a deal to buy General Motors' Opel Vauxhall operations in Europe for about 2 to 3 billion plans to return to the US market some time next decade have success in the US is not an easy task Citroen and Peugeot left the US market in 1974 and 1991, respectively.
PSA has made great progress in recent years after struggling for much of the previous four decades In 2014, the French government and China's Dongfeng Motor Group each acquired a stake of 14 percent in PSA reduction from family Peugeot at a similar level to help bail the company CEO strapped Carlos Tavares has implemented a series of cost cutting measures, the company began to focus on the most models profitable and revived DS sub-brand premium Citroen last year, PSA sold 3 14 million vehicles worldwide, up 6 percent from 2015.
To reduce dependence of the company on Europe, which represents about 60 percent of its revenue PSA launched its strategic push to pass last year's plan envisages the launch of 26 new or redesigned cars in 2022, expansion in North America, and increasingly its business in Asia, India and other emerging markets to this end, PSA has signed an agreement with Hindustan Motors India earlier this year and presented an offer to buy Malaysian carmaker Proton Holdings and its subsidiary Group Lotus in England.
The Opel deal gives PSA nearly 17 percent of the new European vehicle market because it surpasses Renault to second place behind the Volkswagen group PSA targets annual savings of 1 8 billion by 2025 through savings scale, eliminating redundant costs and increased platform and parts sharing the first new Opel model based PSA should launch around 2020, with five more due 2023 SAP also plans to benefit from the engineering expertise Opel and electric vehicle technology.
But analysts question the wisdom of the acquisition, noting that Opel has long been a financial drag on GM results with losses for European unity totaling 19 billion over the past 17 years, and it n ' is not the first go around for PSA and Opel a short earlier alliance between the companies ended in 2013, when GM sold a 7 percent in the french automaker economies after expected didn t materialize done the balance of PSA to buy the European operations of US companies is not good buying Chrysler Europe and its mounting debt in 1978 sent the French company in free fall until 1985.
The new Opel deal will likely be an uphill battle other automakers have struggled with similar mergers and acquisitions and could harm the global expansion plans of the company by diverting resources But to his credit, PSA takes a measured approach to return to the United States before trying to market Peugeot Citroen DS or even Opel models on the market, PSA plans to test the waters and build brand recognition in another way in February, PSA and provider MAIF insurance announced its intention to invest in the carpool TravelCar business and launch a pilot program in the United States this spring in Los Angeles and San Francisco airports TravelCar currently has some 300,000 users in more than 200 locations in 10 European countries.
The TravelCar partnership is part of the unity of growing mobility services Free2Move PSA, which the company hailed as its second core business after automobile manufacturing PSA launched a French car-sharing partnership last December 2015 and created a company to identify new digital businesses and mobility worldwide and invest in startups Tavares believes that providing these mobility options will help PSA learn more about the changing tastes of consumers in north America and is the first step re-enter the market.
Time will tell if PSA, representing public Peugeot Société Anonyme in French, never became a household name in the U S.
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