"Our strategy is not to increase our drawn debt but to keep this facility available," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
This isn't the first syndicated credit line received by PSA as the French group currently has two other loans totaling 2.4 billion euros since March 2005 when BNP Paribas, Calyon, JP Morgan and Societe Generale agreed to provide funding to the automakers.
Back in February, the French government approved a 3 billion euros loan for French car manufacturers that could help them concentrate on green cars and preserve jobs at their local facilities. In addition, French automakers were asked to maintain their local operations and void closing production plants in the country.
Also affected by the economic turmoil, PSA Peugeot Citroen expects even tougher times in 2009 and predicted an overall sales drop of about 20 percent for the current year. Moreover, Christian Streiff, chairman of the PSA group, insisted the company has to concentrate on its R&D centers in order to reduce costs and develop new models that could better match the recession-affected market.
“We must prepare for the future by targeting our investments and R&D expenditure to develop new vehicles and new environmental solutions to ensure sustained and profitable growth for PSA Peugeot Citroën once this crisis is behind us. Our intention is to maintain investment and expenditure on automotive R&D at around 3.5 billion euros,” said chairman Christian Streiff.
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