PSA Says Its Factories Are More Productive Than Opel’s

PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares tells reporters the shortfalls in productivity of Opel plants he has visited to date are “quite big” compared with PSA facilities.

He adds diplomatically that he also expects to find Opel factories that are better than PSA’s. Tavares is widely expected to phase out or combine some of the Opel facilities PSA acquired last month from General Motors Co. as the two companies integrate operations. Opel reportedly is losing some €4 million per day this year.

Automotive News Europe notes that LMC Automotive has reported that all Opel assembly plants except its complex in Zaragoza, Spain, had lower utilization rates in 2016 than PSA’s factories. LMC says PSA factories ran between 78% and 100% of capacity last year compared with 51% to 78% for Opel’s facilities.

Opel and PSA have co-developed several vehicles that share the same platform under a co-production partnership they formed five years ago. The first of those vehicles—the Opel Crossland X and Citroen C3 Aircross small crossover vehicles—went into production at Zaragoza in June.

PSA also has begun building the Opel Grandland X and Peugeot 3008 crossovers in Sochaux, France. Those vehicles will go on sale later this year. PSA and Opel also will share production of the Opel Combo light commercial vehicle next year and Opel Corsa small hatchback in 2019.