PSA Group - History

History

In December 1974 Peugeot S.A. acquired a 38.2% share of Citroën. On 9 April 1976 they increased their stake of the then bankrupt company to 89.95%, thus creating the PSA Group (where PSA is short for Peugeot Société Anonyme), becoming PSA Peugeot Citroën. Since Citroën had two successful new designs in the market at this time (the GS and CX) and Peugeot was typically prudent in its own finances, the PSA venture was a financial success from 1976 to 1979.

In late 1978, PSA purchased the failing Chrysler Europe (which was formerly Rootes and Simca), from the troubled U.S. parent firm for a nominal USD $1.00, plus assumption of outstanding debt, leading to losses for the consortium from 1980 to 1985. Further investment was required because PSA decided to create a new brand for the entity for the disparate French and British models, based on the Talbot sports car last seen in the 1950s. From then on, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the Talbot badge until production of Talbot-branded passenger cars was shelved in 1987 and on commercial vehicles in 1992.

All of this investment caused serious financial problems for the entire PSA group; PSA lost money from 1980 to 1985. In 1986, the company dropped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-based Horizon, Alpine and Solara models. What was to have been the Talbot Arizona became the 309, with the former Rootes plant in Ryton and Simca plant in Poissy being turned over for Peugeot assembly. Producing Peugeots in Ryton was significant, as it signalled the first time that PSA would build cars in the UK. The Talbot name survived for a little longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely.

On 29 February 2012, PSA formally announced the creation of a major alliance with General Motors (GM), as part of which GM became PSA's second-largest shareholder, after the Peugeot family, with a holding of 7%. The alliance is intended to enable $2 billion per year of cost savings through platform sharing, common purchasing and other economies of scale.

In July 2012, a union official said that PSA Peugeot Citroen will cut as 10 percent (8,000-10,000) of its French workforce of 100,356 employees on permanent and temporary contract. The jobs cut is more than previously announced.

On October 24, PSA said it was close to an agreement with creditor banks on 11.5 billion euros ($14.9 billion) of refinancing and had won state guarantees on 7 billion euros in further borrowing by its Banque PSA Finance.

CEO Philippe Varin says that "Citroën and Peugeot are too close", so he plans on making Citroën more budget friendly, the DS car brand more entry-level and Peugeot will be moved towards the premium market.