GM Partners With Peugeot

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Today General Motors annouced that it is acquiring seven percent of the French automaker Peugeot, making GM Peugeot's second largest shareholder. In a statement, the two companies said they would share vehicle platforms and what's known in the indsutry as "modules" which are major subsystems like HVAC or electrical architectures. Also, the companies will create a "global purchasing joint venture." There are currently no plans to begin selling Peugeots here.?

We're not MBAs, but after watching the industry for decades this mashup sounds to us like a way to restore GM's European arm, Opel to profitability. Opel has been a drain on GM since the company emerged from bankruptcy nearly three years ago. Last year GM as a whole made 4.7 billion, while Opel lost over a billion. We can only surmise that GM is hoping that the combined purchasing power of both companies will mean lower component costs.

As for platform sharing, the picture is less clear. Many of GM's current platforms, like the Epsilon version under the Chevy Malibu and Buick Regal, were developed by Opel in Europe. The latest, and quite good, small-car platform underpinning the Chevy Sonic was engineered in Korea. It seems that GM has a good handle on creating global platforms so we're not sure what Peugeot brings to the table.?

Overal, the picture of large car-company partnerships is decidely mixed. Daimler and Chrysler was a fiasco, while Nissan and Renault seem to be working well together. It remains to be seen how well GM and Peogeot will perform.?

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/GM-Partners-With-Peugeot?src=rss

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