[GTO]

Everyone knows about how Peugeot abandoned India & cheated customers of their booking deposits for the 309. Even internationally, Peugeot has been in a very weak position. Of late though, we've read news such as 'Peugeot to re-enter India', 'Peugeot to buy Opel', 'Peugeot in race for Lotus' and so on. I was like . When did they suddenly get the resources for such an expansion?

Started reading up on Peugeot's story and - in particular - its CEO Carlos Tavares. Quite an impressive leader (although I still think the Opel move is stupid). Peugeot was miserable before he arrived from Renault where he worked with the 'other' Carlos (Ghosn).
Here are some reads on the subject.

He's a weekend racer!

Image Source & a good read

Mr Tavares, who studied in Paris and speaks French fluently, is a former protégé of Renault-Nissan head Carlos Ghosn and has previously worked with Dongfeng, brokering a joint venture between Renault and the Chinese carmaker that is expected to be signed soon.

He joined Renault as a test driver straight from university, spent 32 years working his way up the company, and his decades of experience at the highly successful global alliance are regarded by Dongfeng as key to his possible appointment.

Mr Tavares suffered a stunning fall from grace at Renault over the summer, however, after a frank media interview in which he said he did not want to wait for Mr Ghosn to retire, but was looking to run General Motors or Ford Motor instead.

When Mr Ghosn returned from the summer break an emergency board meeting was called and it was announced that Mr Tavares was stepping down immediately “in order to pursue other personal projects”.

Source

Tavares became CEO of PSA on March 31, 2014, after spending 32 years at Renault and Nissan.

After leading Nissan's North American operations, he returned to France to become COO at Renault, a position that made him No. 2 below CEO Carlos Ghosn.

Tavares stepped down as Renault COO on Aug. 29, 2013, two weeks after saying in an interview to Bloomberg that he wanted to become CEO at an automaker.

His point was simple: being just four years younger than Ghosn, the "other" Carlos needed another automaker to fulfill his dream of becoming his own boss. And he quickly found it, without even having to move out of Paris.

By January 2014, he had joined archrival PSA.

PSA called Tavares to the helm of the company after the founding Peugeot family had to relinquish control in a 2014 bailout, with the French state and Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor taking stakes in the struggling automaker.

Source & Full Article

PSA Peugeot Citroën said on Wednesday it would consider paying a dividend for 2016 after reaching its medium-term targets ahead of schedule, helped by cost cuts, price increases and a recovery in European demand.

Following a successful turnaround plan on the back of a €3 billion bailout in 2012, the French carmaker said its automotive division hit a 5 per cent operating margin, a goal it had set for 2019-23.

The turnaround has been engineered by Chief Executive Carlos Tavares who said: “I am delighted with this collective success. It puts our company back in the race and proves its potential.”

The company posted a full-year net profit of €1.2 billion, reversing a €555 million loss in 2014. Group recurring operating income more than tripled to €2.7 billion.

Source

However, his greatest success of recent times has been his abrupt and unexpected turnaround of PSA, a serial underachiever that flirted with bankruptcy as recently as 2012, having run up losses of £5 billion in just two years. Back then, PSA was forced to close its Rennes plant and make 8000 workers redundant, a move widely seen as an act of desperation.

Source

And one on his plans:

One of Tavares's main challenges is to reduce PSA's reliance on Europe, which accounted for 63 percent of its car sales last year. The market's decline to a two-decade low in the aftermath of the sovereign-debt crisis prompted a bailout by the French government and China's Dongfeng Motor in 2014, with each taking a 14 percent stake in the automaker. "We are strong in Europe and in China, the new plan is all about growing elsewhere to reduce the vulnerability of the company," Tavares said, adding that his new plan addresses this weakness by putting more emphasis on PSA's non-Europe operations (see box, below).

Source

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by GTO

Everyone knows about how Peugeot abandoned India & cheated customers of their booking deposits for the 309. Even internationally, Peugeot has been in a very weak position. Of late though, we've read news such as 'Peugeot to re-enter India', 'Peugeot to buy Opel', 'Peugeot in race for Lotus' and so on.

Whenever a global car-maker, of such scale pulls a stunt like this, it shows they really didn't think their plans through and didn't adapt themselves to the pricing & practicality needs of the country they're expanding into.

Much like Nissan-Renault Alliance and Fiat-Chrysler, the PSA Peugeot Citroen group are barely hanging on to the top 10 list primarily because of multi-brand mergers and "understandings", half of which failed, this group has so many that it makes my head spin. Few of these as below :

- Decided to manufacture in India with PAL, massive flop.
- Platform sharing agreement with GM on Feb 2012.
- E.U and GM wanted them to quit Iran, they did and ended the partnership with Iran Khodro, the local mass-transport manufacturer.
- G.M sold their stake in the automaker in 2013, if G.M sells any stake in any company it sure has to be a no other way out situation.
- PSA Peugeot Citroens Chinese partner Dongfeng Motors buys 13% stake.
- French Government absorbs 13% of the company and their losses (bailout).
- The company is thinking of absorbing Opel (and their 250+ million $ loss), yet another misery loves company scenario.

Personally, I've scant respect for brands that rely so much on partnerships and fail at those too, Carlos Tavares maybe good but he's not proven himself as of now and has a lot of work cut out, good luck penetrating India, my guess is it'll be worse than last time because the competition is 10 times more today.

The French are actually much better in engineering, research & patents than the Germans, they also are far better in the luxury market (in general) and marketing of the same, its a shame that most of their car-makers do not exude these values and examples like Renault & Peugeot-Citroen aren't nearly as good as their German rivals.

[volkman10]

Peugeot 3008 wins European Car of the Year 2017, beating six other cars including the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Mercedes-Benz E-Class to the top spot.
Other cars in the running included the Volvo S90 and its estate sibling, the V90, the Citroën C3, Toyota’s angular C-HR crossover the striking new Nissan Micra!




Link

[ajmat]

Just back from a quick trip to France. Peugeot have now moved the game up with some good cars. I did remember their narration of the turnaround in Geneva.

Peugeot stuck to the knitting and developed some key cars in key segments, which are selling reasonably well. They have a choice of attacking the VW juggernaut or flanking it. Coming to India is part of the game as VW have not made great in-roads. I just hope the CK Birla baggage does not weight it down.

Peugeot is a different company from the PAL days. Carlos Taveres has experienced the process of creating the Renault Nissan Alliance and should be able to replicate this with GM. Remember Renault was not exactly in an better shape at the time of that merger.

The big unknown is what will happen to the GM plants around Europe

[Flyer]

Looks like PSA is late for the party.

PSA is creating a new business unit dedicated to electric vehicles as it gears up to offer all of its models with an electric option by 2025.

The new division, which will start work in 2019, “will be responsible for defining and deploying the group’s electric vehicle strategy and rolling out the related products and services”

Mr Carlos Tavares said the company would offer all of its models with an electric option by 2025 and that 80 per cent of its cars would by 2030 have so-called level two automation — technology that steers and brakes in certain limited conditions such as on motorways.

PSA, which acquired the Opel and Vauxhall brands from General Motors last year and also owns Citroën, said the new business unit would be headed by Alexandre Guignard. Mr Guignard will report to Linda Jackson, chief executive of Citroën.

“The challenge for this business unit . . . will be to provide the best vehicles at the best time to satisfy our customers and thereby ensure the best economic conditions for launching Groupe PSA’s electric vehicles into the market,” Ms Jackson said in a statement.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/02634fa0-...8-2f31af407cc8