PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) deal to buy GM’s Vauxhall/Opel to be announced on Monday

The deal for PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) to buy General Motor’s European business of Vauxhall and Opel looks set to be announced on Monday at a press conference.

You would have thought that General Motors would have found a way by now to make Vauxhall and Opel a success in Europe. But they haven’t.

In fact, they’re doing what Ford did with businesses like Volvo, Jaguar  and Land Rover and looking for a way to offload them. And it looks like France’s PSA – the makers of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars – is the way out for GM.

A deal to sell Vauxhall and Opel to PSA has been mooted for years, and the companies already share plenty, including the underpinnings for Vauxhall’s new Crossland X (a Peugeot 2008 under the skin) and Grandland X (a Peugeot 3008 in its other life), but now Vauxhall and Opel are set to be owned outright by PSA.

New talks have been rumbling on for some time as the two side thrash out issues like GM’s huge pensions deficit in Europe (apparently GM are going to take ongoing responsibility for a chunk of that), the usual IP argy-bargies and competition in China. 

All the sticking points now seem to be ironed out, so on Monday we’ll probably find out how the deal will work, and how long it will take. But due diligence means it’ll be a while.

But what does this mean for Vauxhall in the UK?

In truth, in the short term, probably not a lot. But we can’t see it being anything other than bad news in the longer term, with both Ellesmere Port and Luton unlikely to be chosen over Opel’s German plants by a French company as production is (inevitably) rationalised across the new group’s plants. Never mind the Brexit effect on the decision process.

In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if Vauxhall badge all but disappears in the coming years, to be reborn in the UK as Opel and with all its cars – based on PSA platforms – built in Europe.