Poor sales in Europe and weakness in China would have resulted in Stellantis being the world’s 6th largest carmaker in 2020, instead of the 4th largest.
FCA and PSA’s assertion that their combined efforts would result in the inception of the world’s fourth-largest car company was based on vehicle sales from 2019, as per Autonews Europe. This means that the way the car market rebounds this year will be key to Stellantis’ global status.
As for what the global landscape would have looked like if the merger had taken place 12 months ago, well, with combined sales (PSA and FCA) down 33% to 3.89 million units through the first three quarters (compared to the same period in 2019), Stellantis would have trailed all of the following companies: Toyota (6.68 million units), VW Group (6.18 million units), Renault-Nissan (5.54 million units), GM (4.72 million units) and Hyundai-KIA (4.50 million units).
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Ultimately, Stellantis would have dropped from No.4 to No.6 because both FCA and PSA suffered steep sales declines in Europe during government-imposed lockdowns. Since most of its sales are in Europe, PSA’s volume fell more than FCA’s, with the French carmaker not being able to benefit from China’s quick rebound from the lockdowns. FCA on the other hand still had a strong performance in the U.S.
In the end, even though global rankings aren’t key to the success of the business, both FCA and PSA executives have acknowledged that the larger the entity, the better their chances become at competing with powerhouses such as Toyota and VW.
