Europe’s second-largest car maker and GM alliance partner PSA Peugeot Citroen ended the first half of the year with its auto division 662 million euro ($800 million) in the reds, Reuters says.
This loss did not come unexpected. Global sales were down 13 percent in the first half year, Iran-heavy CKD sales were down a whopping 31 percent. PSA tried to stem additional bloodletting by announcing 8,000 French job cuts and a plant closure. That brought the company in the cross hairs of the newly elected leftist government.
PSA wants a 10 percent reduction of the French workforce. Peugeot says that would generate 1.5 billion euros in savings by 2015. €350 million are supposed to be saved through the cooperation with alliance partner GM.
Cross-town rival Renault expects European car sales not to return to pre-crisis levels before 2017.
That damn Euro-English, making everything plural. A single red is sufficient for our good ol’ fashioned American losers.
(As for the European trade unions, that’s another story …)
PSA can learn a lot from GM. Such as how to sell millions of cars and still go bankrupt.