Le Monde says Peugeot-Citroen will buy Opel, GM denies it

The French newspaper, Le Monde, claims that the French government was planning the movements necessary to buy Opel. This idea is not entirely unreasonable, GM wants to get rid of Opel, which only gives prejudice. and PSA would have access to new technical skills and their "German" position in market share.

If this happens it will be the inevitable the closure of some factories and the dismissal of many workers, if Opel wants to be profitable. But GM already said this won't happen, and that this is "pure speculation with no basis in reality".

The reality is that GM and PSA Group maintain a connection for almost a year and the French government wants to protect French workers, so we will have to wait for new chapters in this novel.

Source: autoblog.es

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GM and PSA don't like each other anymore

General Motors and PSA are no longer in talks for a possible tie-up between Peugeot and Opel for an operational partnership. Several people with direct knowledge of those discussions have said the negotiations stopped because of the French carmaker's worsening finances and government-backed bailout.

For now it seems that there won't be an agreement before 2014 and that isn't even sure because of the bailout conditions that rule out French job cuts, meaning all the cuts would have to be done in the German side (Opel).

Both companies are in big trouble with Peugeot losing 160 million euros (200 million dolars) a month and having to cut around 10.000 jobs, and Opel isn't better with predictions of losing over 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) this year in Europe and wants to close an Opel factory in Bochum, Germany.

Source: Reuters

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