An employee works on the assembly line of the Peugeot 208 at the PSA-Peugeot Citroen plant in Poissy, near Paris.
PARIS: PSA Peugeot Citroen unions voiced concern yesterday over a deeper tie-up plan with General Motors that sources say the French carmaker is seeking to revive.
Such a move would require major capacity cuts and face serious obstacles, analysts also said — but the discussions may signal that the companies are preparing to tackle overcapacity.
The Paris-based carmaker and founding Peugeot family have repeatedly declined to comment on a Reuters report that the founding shareholder is ready to hand over control in return for a new cash injection from GM. “A dilution of the family would not be good news,” a spokesman for Peugeot’s moderate CFTC union said.
“One of the last remaining family groups would cease to exist in its current form,” he said. “It’s the family attachment to the company that has preserved its French roots so far.”
GM reiterated it had no current plans to invest more cash in Peugeot. The French carmaker also inconclusively explored a deal with Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Group, sources have said.
“There’s absolutely no question of selling the Peugeot family’s stake,” a source close to the family was quoted as saying by the website of France’s BFM radio.
Under the terms of their alliance, which saw GM take a 7 percent Peugeot stake in a ¤1bn share issue last year, the companies plan to pool future vehicle programmes.
Reuters
