Say WHAT? PSA Group's CEO Says ALL BRANDS Will Survive Merger...

In an interview with a French television station, PSA Group's CEO, Carlos Tavares, has made it clear that all of PSA's and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' (FCA) brands should continue to live on.

This is actually a rather surprising finding, however, there is a darker underbelly to this interview. That's because it seems quite clear that there will be overlap with certain jobs.

In other words, job cuts will be coming. Tavares simply noted that job cuts are part of the auto business as companies seek cost savings.

It's obviously too early to pinpoint the brands that may be most impacted, however, we'll keep our ears to the ground.

Peugeot maker PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler would retain all of their car brands if their planned $50 billion merger goes ahead, the would-be chief executive of the combined group said on Friday...

...Tavares said the brands that would come under the combined group’s umbrella - PSA’s five passenger car labels include Citroen and Vauxhall, while FCA has nine, including Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Jeep - were all likely to survive.

“As of today, I don’t see any need to scrap any of the brands if the deal came to pass. They all have their history and their strengths,” Tavares said...
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CANADIANCOMMENTS - 11/9/2019 7:53:16 PM

-1 Boost

What else were they going to say? 3-6 Months in they can go back and say upon further review we have some changes to announce as a result of the merger.

MDarringer - 11/9/2019 8:38:18 PM

-3 Boost

Bingo!

Bye bye: Vauxhall, Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Chrysler, Ram (put the trucks back into Dodge).

Fiat becomes the new Lancia.

The Maserati name is sold to the highest bidder.

Foncool - 11/10/2019 7:30:17 AM

+4 Boost

Dodge is more likely to disappear than Alfa Romeo, its appeal and recognition is strictly limited to North America, while Alfa’s appeal and recognition is world wide.

The likelihood is that there will be more regional Brand Engineering, same car different nose badge.

PUGPROUD - 11/10/2019 8:41:07 AM

+1 Boost

Dodge stays, PSA needs Dodge dealer network to reintroduce Peugeot in America (as foolish as that sounds).

MDarringer - 11/10/2019 11:08:29 AM

-1 Boost

Dodge stays because the Challenger, Charger, and Caravan sell well, thus there is a lot of life left. Folding Ram back into Dodge would make epic sense.

PSA has a poor product mix as does FCA. NONE of their cars are class leading, not even remotely.

Peugeot will fail like VW fails because the products will be Eurocentric rather than ones that target our market. PSA has issues in China because their products are Eurocentric and overpriced.

The new company needs to really focus on new Challengers, Chargers, and Caravans for the USA, and then get a crossover pickup and a Dakota above it.

Jeep is an absolute mess. Sales of the Retrograde are cold. The Compass failed to ignite. The Cherokee is old and dated. The Grand Cherokee should have been to market 5 years ago. Wagoneer? #VaporProduct Wrangler? Botched and about to have to contend with the Bronco. Gladiator? Overpriced. The Commander would make an excellent replacement to the horrible Cherokee, but it's nowhere in sight.

Alfa Romeo needs to be boarded up with a re-emphasis on Maserati, which ironically has better build quality and reliability.

MDarringer - 11/10/2019 11:15:21 AM

-6 Boost

@Foncol You're a moron. The sales of the Chrysler 300 are greater than ALL Alfa Romeo sales in the USA. The combined sales of the Challenger and Charger is greater than all Alfa Romeo sales worldwide. Dodge makes money. Alfa Romeo drains money. The warranty payouts on Alfa Romeos is staggering, not to mention the amount of Alfa Romeos FCA has quietly bought back to calm angry customers.

TomM - 11/10/2019 10:33:57 PM

+2 Boost

Matt - Just one little change- THERE is no Dodge Caravan anymore. AS of right now - it has been replaced with a VOYAGER that carries the CHrysler Brand - and is essentially a lower content Pacifica.

I would also submit that Peugeot/Citroen/Opel might be good sources for new Chrysler models - and certainly using the AMerican name would be superior to using names that have failed in the USA before. In fact - it would be funny if they used OPEL models to fill out the CHrysler brand - similar to what Buick has been until recently. Certainly PSA has been moving fast to get the Opel cars off GM platforms so they do not have to pay royalties for them.

Truthy - 11/11/2019 10:44:29 PM

+1 Boost

The whole enterprise is a mess. There are too many overlapping models, aged platforms, debt, etc. I cannot understand how they will be able to rationalize all of this and find capital to invest in new platforms and technology.
Remember when Renault owned American Motors/Jeep?