GM, PSA Peugeot Citroen to cross-manufacture vehicles in Europe
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Automakers plan to begin commercial production of shared platform vehicles by 2016
PARIS—PSA Peugeot Citroen and General Motors continue to hash out details of a strategic alliance as the automakers look to produce shared platform vehicles by 2016.
The alliance between the French automaker and the European division of Detroit-based GM remains structured around the main pillars of joint programs—purchasing and logistics, focused on Europe—and extends into cross manufacturing, with the two planning to build a pair of vehicles for GM on PSA platforms.
While the automakers remain tight-lipped about which PSA vehicles will be used in the cross manufacturing program, GM said one of those will be a crossover.
The companies will also cooperate on new generation products in the light commercial vehicle B-segment, based on a next-generation PSA platform.
According to GM, the first vehicles from the alliance are expected to launch starting in 2016.
The automakers will also produce one vehicle for the other.
As announced in October, with MPVs from both companies to be built at GM’s plant in Zaragoza, Spain, near Barcelona.
The partners announced plans Dec. 12 to build the future shared CUVs at a PSA plant in Sochaux, France.
“The alliance between PSA and GM is based on a balanced approach,” said , GM Europe president Karl-Thomas Neumann said in a statement.
“The vehicles of both manufacturers will be highly differentiated and fully consistent with their respective brand characteristics.”
The updated synergies expected from the alliance are estimated at approximately $1.2-billion by 2018, which the automakers said will be shared “about evenly” between them.
