Photo: Opel
For what it’s worth, General Motors chief executive officer Mary Barra accepted to sell Opel off to Groupe PSA earlier this year for one particularly good reason. The German automaker and its British counterpart Vauxhall have been losing money since 1999. Every single year, the European division of GM didn’t post a profit, and to streamline operations, the biggest of the Big Three decided that it would be best to pull out of the Old Continent altogether.
$20 billion in losses later, Groupe PSA plans to keep costs under control by changing Opel from its foundation. The solution? "We will gradually start using PSA platforms and engines for the Opel model lineup," said Gilles Le Borgne to Automotive News. "This won't happen overnight. It will take a few years,” concluded the development chief of the French juggernaut.
Probably the most telltale sign Groupe PSA won’t take any chances with Opel is the following line, coming from Peter Fintl, the director of technology and innovation at the German subsidiary of French development services provider Altran: "PSA doesn’t need Opel’s conventional technology.” Apply cold water to burn, then start wondering what does this mean for Opel in the long run.
Reading between the lines, the German automaker and its British sister brand will slowly but steadily embrace hybrid and electric vehicle technology from Groupe PSA. One such building block is the Common Modular Platform, which prides itself on an electrified version in the form of the e-CMP. According to PSA, the e-CMP is designed to offer 450 kilometers (280 miles) of range.
In regard to conventional engines, the PureTech and BlueHDi families have won plenty of awards and are generally regarded as being very economical for their respective displacements. In the long run, adopting Peugeot-Citroen powerplants puts many jobs at risk in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Austria.
From the report: “It is also uncertain whether PSA will continue to need the 3,000 Opel engineers that have mainly worked on GM projects until now.”
Probably the most telltale sign Groupe PSA won’t take any chances with Opel is the following line, coming from Peter Fintl, the director of technology and innovation at the German subsidiary of French development services provider Altran: "PSA doesn’t need Opel’s conventional technology.” Apply cold water to burn, then start wondering what does this mean for Opel in the long run.
Reading between the lines, the German automaker and its British sister brand will slowly but steadily embrace hybrid and electric vehicle technology from Groupe PSA. One such building block is the Common Modular Platform, which prides itself on an electrified version in the form of the e-CMP. According to PSA, the e-CMP is designed to offer 450 kilometers (280 miles) of range.
In regard to conventional engines, the PureTech and BlueHDi families have won plenty of awards and are generally regarded as being very economical for their respective displacements. In the long run, adopting Peugeot-Citroen powerplants puts many jobs at risk in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Austria.
From the report: “It is also uncertain whether PSA will continue to need the 3,000 Opel engineers that have mainly worked on GM projects until now.”
Google News