Plastic Omnium-A first order of bumpers to replace the historic customer Stellantis | Photo credits: Plastic Omnium
by Gilles Guillaume
PARIS, August 23 (Reuters) – Plastic Omnium has won its first order for bumpers from a car manufacturer other than Stellantis, a long-time customer of its Guichen plant (Ille-et-Vilaine) but which has decided to produce in solo this part of the vehicle.
The site of the equipment manufacturer, which employs around 200 people, today manufactures the bumpers of the Citroën C5 Aircross SUV, now one of the brands of the group born from the merger between PSA and FCA.
Stellantis announced in July an investment of 20 million euros to relaunch internally in its Rennes assembly plant the plastic injection of bumpers on the car which will succeed the C5 Aircross at the end of 2024, as Fiat is already doing.
Plastic Omnium will continue to manufacture the rear tailgate of the future vehicle, but to compensate for the loss of the bumpers and maintain its production volumes and its workforce in Guichen, the world leader in bumpers and tailgates must open up to others. builders, a spokesman for the group told Reuters.
“This site has already secured an order, for the first time, from an automaker other than Stellantis,” he said.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Plastic Omnium would have found this new outlet with the Renault group.
No comment could be immediately obtained from the manufacturer with the diamond.
The march towards the electrification of vehicles is leading to major maneuvers in the automotive industry, with manufacturers seeking to reinternalize activities hitherto outsourced to take over from their traditional core business, the diesel or gasoline engine block.
So far, this repatriation of the value chain has mainly concerned electric motors and batteries. (Gilles Guillaume, edited by Bertrand Boucey)