Merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler: new giant Stellantis attacks the car market

PSA and Fiat Chrysler merge
New giant Stellantis attacks the car market

After much preparation, the mega merger is sealed: PSA and Fiat Chrysler merge to form Stellantis and become the big players in the industry. The now fourth largest car company in the world is to go to the stock markets in the coming week. Meanwhile, the future for Opel remains uncertain.

The French Peugeot manufacturer PSA and Fiat Chrysler have completed their mega-merger to become the world's fourth largest car company. The companies confirmed this in a joint statement. The new association with the name Stellantis is led by the previous PSA boss Carlos Tavares and competes in the international top league VW or Toyota.

Stellantis has major pillars in Europe and North America. The group, with its official headquarters in the Netherlands, operates 14 car brands such as Opel, Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Around 400,000 people are employed. Stellantis shares are slated to trade in Milan and Paris from Monday. Tavares wants to speak to the media on Tuesday. From this day on, the share should also be traded in New York.

Before the Corona crisis, FCA and PSA together sold more than eight million vehicles and achieved an annual turnover of almost 170 billion euros. Only Volkswagen, Toyota and the French-Japanese Renault-Nissan group were bigger in 2019. The merger had been in preparation for a long time; the first announcement was made in October 2019. The corona crisis and its economic consequences brought the automotive industry a dramatic drop in sales last year.

Problem child Opel remains the only German brand

However, PSA and FCA stuck to their plans. Experts anticipate that a major renovation of the new network is pending. Tavares had previously assured that no plants should be closed. The home countries of Peugeot and Fiat, France and Italy, have already announced that they will pay close attention to employment at Stellantis. Tavares had worked hard to rehabilitate Opel over the past few years, leaving many jobs by the wayside. Opel remains the only German brand in the new group.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stellantis is John Elkann, grandson of the legendary Fiat patriarch Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli. According to the newspaper "Le Parisien", the Agnelli family will be represented in the new group with around 14.4 percent. Other larger blocks of shares are held by the Peugeot family and the French state.

The industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer said that one of the strengths of the new group was high unit numbers and market shares in Europe and North America. Stellantis, however, is weakly positioned in the future market of Asia. There are also weaknesses in electric vehicles.

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