Despite rumors that the strategic alliance between General Motors and PSA Peugeot-Citroën may crumble due to the negotiations between the French carmaker and Dongfeng Motors, it looks like the two partners are determined to go ahead with their plans.
Both companies today announced new steps in their partnership, including the cooperation on a light commercial vehicle from the B-segment based on a PSA new generation platform.
The alliance between PSA Peugeot-Citroën and General Motors will continue to be focused on the main pillars of joint programs – purchasing and logistics, focus on Europe, and cross manufacturing.
The two carmakers confirmed continued cooperation for two products based on PSA platforms – the B-segment MPV and the C-segment crossover. The B-segment light commercial vehicle will add to those two, with the first vehicles from the alliance expected to launch in 2016. However, the collaboration on a B-segment platform and associated small petrol engine was dropped “following detailed evaluation.”
Manufacturing plans will be based on reciprocity, with each company producing one vehicle for the other. As announced in October, B-segment MPVs from both companies will be built in GM’s Zaragoza plant in Spain, while future C-segment crossovers will be built in PSA’s plant in Sochaux, France.
“The vehicles of both manufacturers will be highly differentiated and fully consistent with their respective brand characteristics,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, GM executive vice president and president, Europe.
PSA and GM estimate that the synergies generated by the Alliance will reach approximately $1.2 billion by 2018, shared about evenly between the two partners.
The two carmakers also modified certain terms of the agreement, including the removal as a ground for terminating the Alliance, the failure to achieve a minimum number of cooperation programs within a specific time. They also agreed on a waiver of GM’s right to terminate the Alliance “under certain conditions in the event certain parties take a stake in PSA”, in which case, such parties would support the Alliance. In that scneario, GM would vote any PSA shares it would then hold in favor of any such transaction.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
