With the purchase of Opel and Vauxhall from General Motors, today in Paris Peugeot is christening the second European automotive group behind Volkswagen. The operation is worth 1,3 billion dollars and the necessary financing will come from Bnp Paribas.
The deal will be announced at a joint press conference in the French capital, although the closing will take a couple of months. It is the most important European automotive acquisition since 1994 when the marriage between BMW and Rover and for Carlos Tavares, Peugeot's number one, took place. it is the most demanding challenge of his brilliant professional career after the lightning-fast relaunch of Peugeot itself.
Peugeot-Opel will have 28 factories in Europe for a total of 125 employees in the auto sector alone, which becomes 210 if we also consider other activities and also outside the Old Continent.
In 2016 Peugeot and Opel sold a total of 4,3 million vehicles worldwide, of which 3,1 million in Europe where they have a market share of 16,6%.
The sale of Opel, which has been making a loss for 16 years, and its reduction in Europe could now induce General Motors to focus on the American and Asian markets but also to reopen the alliance file and to reconsider the advances of Fiat Chrysler more willingly.
