Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 22
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE
TALK FROM THE TOP
'We need to move'
PSA CEO Tavares outlines ambitious plans for Opel/Vauxhall
I
t has been an eventful year for PSA
CEO Carlos Tavares. After guiding the
French automaker to an industry-leading automotive profit margin in 2016,
Tavares announced that he had agreed
to buy Opel and Vauxhall, General Motors' perpetually money-losing European
brands. The 2.2 billion-euro deal, which
closed on July 31, vaulted PSA into second place by volume among European
automakers, behind Volkswagen Group.
With a goal of reaching a 2 percent operating profit and positive free cash flow
by 2020, Tavares plans to move quickly
to cut costs, improve pricing and transition Opel models onto PSA platforms to
save money and meet emissions standards. He has vowed to do this without
closing plants or forced layoffs. Tavares,
for one, is eager to get started. "This
situation is quite dramatic. We need to
move," he said in November, as PSA
presented a new strategic plan for Opel/
Vauxhall at the company's headquarters
in Germany. He discussed the situation
at Opel and other automotive trends
with Automotive News Europe and other
journalists at events and roundtables in
Paris; Frankfurt; Dijon, France; and at
Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim.
Meet the boss
❚ NAME: Carlos Tavares
❚ T
ITLE: PSA Group CEO
❚ AGE: 59
❚ M
AIN CHALLENGE:
Integrating Opel/Vauxhall
into PSA Group and
making the German and
British brands profitable.
One of your justifications for acquiring Opel is that there are many people who don't want to buy a French
car, and so you wanted to have a German car company within PSA. How
will you make sure your customers
know they are buying a German car?
When we tell our designers that they can
unleash their power as a German team,
I know they will express the German dimensions of Opel cars because they understand the culture. They understand
the country. They understand the value
of technology and the value of a well
done car. One thing I have learned is to
appreciate human beings and how passionate and competent they can be. We
tell our German teams, "Go ahead. Do
your best. Express your potential." As a
natural consequence, we'll have more
German-ness in our Opel products.
not size, will protect your company.
Given that you've just finished the
acquisition of Opel, aren't you really
looking for size?
Even with Opel we are still very small,
with 4 million vehicles, compared with
the worldwide leaders at 10 million. The
acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall will give us
the opportunity to become very profitable and a market leader in Europe. It's
a way to reinforce our economics in a
highly competitive market we understand
well, and from there to be able to leverage these strengths overseas. It's a good
thing, not only because Europe has been
a leader in terms of emissions, which has
been excellent in terms of developing
our engineering capabilities, but Europe
also is very demanding in terms of mobility services and mobility devices. That
means that we can develop our skills in
those areas and deploy them overseas.
You have said that you are looking
for agility in PSA, because agility,
There have been several efforts in the
past to have Peugeot and Opel work
22
www.autonewseurope.com
together on projects such as the new
Opel Corsa. Some were not successful. What has changed since the first
attempt at this marriage?
If you look at what has happened over the
past four years, if you look at the Crossland X and at the Grandland X (SUVs), if
you look at the coming small LCV [light
commercial vehicle] and what will happen
with the future Corsa, what I see is that
the teams have been working together
in a very productive, collaborative way.
When these four products, which have
been developed collaboratively over the
last four years, go into production they
will make up nearly 50 percent of Opel
volume, which is significant.
The PSA portfolio includes the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall and DS
brands. What will be done to differentiate them?
What is important is not to instruct the
brands to go this way or that way. My
recommendation to our brands is very
In Partnership with
2017
http://www.autonewseurope.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement
Contents
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 1
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 2
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - Contents
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 4
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 5
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 6
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 7
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 8
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 9
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 10
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 11
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 12
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 13
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 14
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 15
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 16
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 17
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 18
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 19
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 20
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 21
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 22
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 23
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 24
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 25
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 26
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 27
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 28
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 29
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 30
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 31
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 32
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 33
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 34
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 35
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 36
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 37
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 38
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 39
Automotive News Europe - December 2017 - Talk from the Top Supplement - 40
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