PSA Group exploring takeover of GM’s European unit Opel
FRANKFURT — France’s PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, says it’s exploring a possible takeover of Opel, General Motors’ money-losing European business.
PSA Group said in a statement Tuesday that it was considering “numerous strategic initiatives” that would expand the existing co-operation, and that a takeover of Opel was one of them. PSA Group and GM are already involved in several joint projects in Europe.
GM said “there can be no assurance that an agreement will be reached.”
Detroit-based GM is weary of having to report losses year after year in Europe, where it last made a full-year profit in 1999 on a pre-tax basis. An outright sale would eliminate the losses; but GM relies on Opel for design work and uses Opel models as the basis for GM models in other markets.