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GM completes sale of European division (Opel) to PSA Group Peugeot


Goce

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I've read earlier this year that peugeot plans to buy opel, but did not give much thought, today going thru the major news press came to this topic : http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2017/08/01/gm-sale-european-division-psa-groupe/528166001/

, now i'm confused, what are peugeot planing, to make opels as good as peugeot, or peugeot's cheap as opels, what are your toughts ?

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They want the "Deutsche Qualität" image to sell their products on markets that doesn't like french cars ; in some places they will need a lot of marketing as GM wasn't really using the Opel brand worldwide.

They need to replace all GM technology on the future as GM is very protective on it (see what happened to SAAB because of that) ; that also makes sense on an industrial point of view to share as many components as possible so in a few years Opel will be fully integrated like the others brands of the group.

Opel will stay "mostly assembled in germany" but for Vauxhall on the other hand the "made in UK" isn't as usefull and with Brexit the future of the british factories is uncertain.

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 Was very surprised when they announced this as most analysts figured GM wouldn't even be able to give it away due to the restrictive and hugely expensive union and pension costs that would go with it...

Tavares seems like a great CEO with excellent vision - so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Opel and Vauxhall have been out of the North American markets even longer than Peugeot, so I have hardly any insight at all on what kind of reputation they have in Europe - but I thought were more on the cheap side of the vehicle spectrum.

My only fond memory is of the Lotus Carlton from the early 90's.  Never got it of course, but it was in all the magazines. :)

Rabin

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Opels always had structural issues in their cars, from stamp sheet metal control arm breaking to steering rack mounts cracking from the body shell to the famous ignition key trouble, they seem to focus more on how car looks then how it drives and lasts, and are pricing them always to be the cheapest in there class.They have one good engine they've produced the C20let.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well now we know, peugeot is using its EMP2 platform on new opel models to make it competitive and to break ground on new markets for example: The Opel Grandland X is a crossover SUV, It is based on the PSA EMP2 platform. Which means under the skin is 2013 Peugeot 308 (second generation), and the Citroën C4 Picasso (second generation) and it can be seen, the wheels are very similar.

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For the first cars that was decided on a previous deal years before the sale, the Corsa on the other hand was delayed so that it could use 100% PSA platform and powertrain.

Using GM technology on new cars is still possible... but not for free.

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  • 3 months later...

Very surprised they were able to offload Opel, not that I know intimately the problems people are talking about but it's the same situation GM was in when trying to sell Saab or Saturn; the 'division' technology was so tightly integrated with their platform development for all divisions that they would be have to give away current technology in order to have something to actually sell, and with Saab and Saturn they weren't willing to do that.

In the end when you have all nameplates running the same undercarriage you really have nothing to sell at all. It's not like you could sell Saab with old tooling, it wouldn't be worth anything, same goes with Opel, what are the last gen Opel models really worth as new cars? Not much. This doesn't even address the engines but it's the same thing, what are you going to power them with if you don't won't sell them the engine because it's your mainline technology in your other cars?

If you look at this whole last round of auto makers scrambling to buy other auto makers it was a huge waste of time / money. A lot of people made really good money on the M&A from these but in the end all the auto makers took a bath. I'd like to ask Ford how well it made out after it overhauled Jaguar and then sold it off? I doubt that it did all that well, otoh at least there was something to sell.

Not to get off-topic but US Govt had no biz subsidizing GM through all this past downturn, GM was in that predicament of their own making and the next one will be too. They just flounder from one problem to the next, all the divisions are now basically gone, I give them a decade and they'll either split into smaller units or go away. Not that I think Tesla or their ilk are the future, they would be gone if not for the Govt subsidy as well.

Steve

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Doesn't bode well for Peugeot - seems like a glaring oversight unless GM outright lied to them:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peugeot-gm-opel-exclusive/exclusive-psa-seeks-opel-refund-from-gm-over-co2-emissions-idUSKBN1DT1NA

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It's also an opportunity to do what they want with allmost no resistance from the unions.

Good guy PSA will do whatever it takes to save the company, nobody whant a new SAAB right?

If it works Tavares is a genius and if it doesn't it's all GM's fault.

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