A few weeks ago I wrote an update regarding the purchase of Vauxhall/Opel by the PSA Group who own Peugeot and Citroen. In that article I described how a large carrot was dangled in front of the PSA CEO to get the new acquisition back in profit far quicker than he had done so at the parent company: two years instead of four. To get PSA profitable Carlos Tavares, the CEO, had … [Read more...]
Saturn
Saturn was a General Motors brand that was in existence for about 27 years and could be called a companion brand, although it was more of a badge engineering exercise towards the end of its life. In 1982 the concept for Saturn was developed. General Motors was hit hard during the 1970s firstly by Japanese imports and then later by the main Japanese manufacturers setting up … [Read more...]
Revised CAFE Standards Being Considered
The current Administration in Washington has been busy trying to change everything that the previous Democratic Government had put in place. The latest decision has upset quite a few people because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will review the CAFE Standards and will pressure California to toe the party line rather than do their own thing. What … [Read more...]
Is General Motors Going to be a Leader in Automotive Sourced Data?
I recently wrote an article about cyber security and the possibility that car manufacturers will follow consumer electronic companies into being more data centre centric and having more funds generated from data than the physical product. General Motors appears to be at the forefront of this evolutionary change in the industry and under the stewardship of Mary Barra, have been … [Read more...]
Update on the Sale of Opel to the PSA Group
About a year ago General Motors sold its European business of Opel and Vauxhall to the PSA Group who own the Peugeot and Citroen marques. It was an interesting deal because Peugeot and Citroen have had their financial difficulties in the recent past and the GM Europe business has had 16 years of losses and only managed to take 6% of the European market. For General Motors it … [Read more...]