Coming soon to a dealer near you.
Peugeot
Citroen
Opel?
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/10/31/...ca-psa-merger/
MILAN — Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA Peugeot said Thursday they have agreed to merge to create the world's fourth-largest automaker with enough scale to confront big shifts in the industry, including a race to develop electric cars and driverless technologies.
Italian-American Fiat Chrysler brings with it a strong footprint in North America, where it makes at least two-thirds of its profits, while Peugeot is the No. 2 automaker in Europe.
Both lag in China, however, despite the participation of Peugeot's Chinese shareholder, Dongfeng, and are playing catching up in developing electric vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler shares were trading up 9% at 14 euros in Milan, while PSA Peugeot shares were down 3.2% to 22.84 euros.
The 50-50 merger is expected to offer savings of 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion), which the automakers expect to achieve without any factory closures — a concern of unions in both France and Italy where the carmakers have more overlap.
Fiat Chrysler's strongest brands are Jeep SUVs and Ram trucks and it is focusing on relaunching its premium and luxury brands, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, with a focus on hybrid engines. It still makes smaller cars under the Fiat marquee, mostly for the European and Latin American markets.
PSA Peugeot makes mostly small, city-friendly cars, family sedans and SUVs under the nameplates of Peugeot, Citroen and Germany-based Opel, which it bought in 2017. That is where the companies can expect to have the most overlap.
The new company would be worth $50 billion, with revenue of 170 billion euros ($189 billion). It would produce 8.7 million cars a year — still behind Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan alliance, which make over 10 million each.
Once a merger is finalized, PSA Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares will be chief executive of the new company, with Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann becoming chairman. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will have a senior executive role.
"This convergence brings significant value to all the stakeholders and opens a bright future for the combined entity," Tavares said in a statement.