It's Official: Vauxhall And Opel Have Been Bought By PSA

As the Geneva Motor Show gets ready to launch its first assault on the media tonight, General Motors has confirmed the sale of Opel and Vauxhall to Group PSA
It's Official: Vauxhall And Opel Have Been Bought By PSA

Even though we were expecting it, we still can’t quite believe we’re bringing you this news. The owners of Peugeot, Citroen and DS have agreed to buy the Opel and Vauxhall brands from General Motors.

The €2.2 billion move for brands that are currently losing around £200 million every year means that GM now has no official presence in Europe, and Group PSA becomes Europe’s second-largest automotive manufacturer after the Volkswagen Group.

At this stage it’s uncertain in what guises the Vauxhall and Opel brands will continue, but from early comments made by PSA boss Carlos Tavares, it seems that the two companies will continue unchanged for now. He said:

“We are proud to join forces with Opel/Vauxhall and are deeply committed to continuing to develop this great company and accelerating its turnaround. We respect all that Opel/Vauxhall’s talented people have achieved as well as the company’s fine brands and strong heritage.

“We intend to manage PSA and Opel/Vauxhall capitalizing on their respective brand identities. Having already created together winning products for the European market, we know that Opel/Vauxhall is the right partner. We see this as a natural extension of our relationship and are eager to take it to the next level.

“We are confident that the Opel/Vauxhall turnaround will significantly accelerate with our support, while respecting the commitments made by GM to the Opel/Vauxhall employees.”

It's Official: Vauxhall And Opel Have Been Bought By PSA

Parts-sharing across the brands is a certainty, with PSA listing greater economies of scale in purchasing and manufacture. What we don’t know is whether factories will close or the scale of any potential job losses among the 40,000 GM employees in Europe. Annual ‘synergies’, meaning cost savings, of €1.7 billion are predicted by 2026, most of which will have been delivered by 2020, an Opel press release says.

The Opel and Vauxhall manufacturing operations have cost PSA €1.3 billion, with a further €900 million for 50 per cent of GM’s European financial establishment. Investment bank BNP Paribas has bought the other half.

Interestingly, GM is to retain an engineering centre in Torino, Italy, and holds special warrants to allow it to buy shares back in PSA at a later date. We get the feeling this is a story that will rumble on for a long time.

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Comments

Anonymous

Why can no one see that this is brilliant news? The only decent Vauxhalls are built by other companies!
VX220/Speedster, Carlton: Lotus
Monaro: Holden

03/06/2017 - 13:37 |
2 | 0
The TallDutchmen

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

But those don’t make a lot of money. Also normal people wont buy a sports Opel car.

03/06/2017 - 20:30 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

So they will be sh*ttier than they are now

03/06/2017 - 13:39 |
6 | 6
hoardBoard12

Can’t wait for the Vauxhall 205 GTI

03/06/2017 - 13:44 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

A lot more of these going around now…

03/06/2017 - 13:59 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

I thought that looked like the back of an Acura MDX for a sec

03/06/2017 - 15:46 |
0 | 0
Black Phillip

Brace yourselves, Europe, you’re about to see a whole lot of Chevrolets on your streets now.

03/06/2017 - 17:37 |
2 | 2

didn’t Chevrolet quitted European Marked a few years ago?

03/06/2017 - 21:22 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

PSA has done a pretty good deal for itself. DS is their luxury arm, Peugeot their sub-premium VW rival, and Citroen their quirky Ford and Fiat rival. Vauxhall/Opel, I reckon, will become PSA’s Skoda or Seat. Just watch!

03/06/2017 - 20:24 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I was thing about that too and its the most certain way

03/06/2017 - 21:21 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Peugeot sucks, Citroen is probably better :D

03/08/2017 - 16:34 |
0 | 0
Flatbush (အစဉ်မပြတá

Saab here was bought by PSA too

03/06/2017 - 20:34 |
0 | 0
Flatbush (အစဉ်မပြတá

Vauxhall/ Oepel Taho

03/06/2017 - 20:37 |
0 | 0
Jeremias

It´s strange that the PSA president is portuguese and not french. And I´m happy for that because I´m portuguese too.

03/06/2017 - 21:05 |
2 | 0