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PSA boss Carlos Tavares (61) has been a superstar in the automotive industry since he saved Citroën, DS, Peugeot and Opel from delicate economic situations.
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PHILIPP SCHMIDLI | photography
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Canceling the Geneva Motor Show 2020 was the right thing to do. “We now see how dangerous the corona virus is,” says PSA chief Tavares in an interview.
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The French PSA group is strongly positioned in the small car segment, not least thanks to the Peugeot 208 recently voted “Car of the Year”.
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BERNARD ASSET
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The Portuguese Tavares is also a big racing fan.
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@World
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He also participated in the Monte Carlo Rally.
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The Portuguese Carlos Tavares (61), CEO of the French PSA group, has been a superstar in the automotive industry since he saved Citroën, DS, Peugeot and Opel from delicate situations and made his PSA group a profit margin champion. Earlier this year, he focused on the China business and the merger with the Fiat / Chrysler Group FCA. But now the corona pandemic is making everything much more difficult.
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Mr. Tavares, the corona crisis for the auto industry began when the Geneva Motor Show was canceled a month ago. How did you experience the situation?
Carlos Tavares: Canceling the Geneva Salon was the right thing to do. We see how dangerous the corona virus is. What I didn’t think was right was the way the financial accounts got stuck on the exhibitors. The losses should have been spread across all parties. But at the moment our main concern is health – it is an absolute priority.–
The small car segment brings little profit margin. With the merger of PSA and FCA, you offer half of the top 10 models in Europe in this segment. Are you going to drop models?
We have to be creative and find solutions that meet every need. Even if we have to think outside the box. We did that last month when we unveiled the Citroën Ami. A two-seater electric car for the city that can be driven by anyone for a monthly fee of 19.99 euros. It’s cute, functional, fully electric, comfortable, just 2.40 meters short and affordable. Thanks to our many years of experience in this segment, we know what customers expect from compact city cars. And our know-how enables us to find the best solutions for every brand at both PSA and FCA.–
They dodge. Is the traditional microcar segment at risk? Some manufacturers already no longer want to build very small cars.
The market segmentation as we know it today will change. There will be a greater differentiation between urban and rural areas. Vehicle ownership will lose ground in the short to medium term, vehicle benefits more important. PSA will definitely surprise the market with new mobility devices.–
Have you already defined how PSA and FCA want to coexist globally in branding and sales in the future?
We have just worked out a very solid merger plan with our friends from FCA, which should bring us estimated annual synergies of 3.7 billion euros without closings. Since the agreement was signed three and a half months ago, many new ideas have emerged. We are currently using our energy to prepare the last ten of a total of 24 applications for the admission files. We have to follow the priorities.–
Personally Carlos TavaresCarlos Tavares, born on August 14, 1958, grew up in Lisbon as the son of a French teacher and studied at the Ecole Centrale Paris, one of the most renowned engineering colleges in France. The Portuguese initially worked at Nissan in the USA for five years, after which he was 32 years in top management at Renault. Since January 1, 2014, he has been CEO of PSA, France’s largest automaker. Tavares has three children, is a hobby racer and collects vintage cars. Among other things, he owns a Porsche 912 (1966), an Alpine A110 (1976) and a Peugeot 504 Coupé (1979).
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But do you think you can achieve the turnaround with Fiat in Europe as quickly as with Opel?
We have two very mature companies with healthy financial results. But of course we know that there are many challenges that we have to face. That does not mean that we are strong in every region and in every market. FCA is not doing well in Europe. To do this, PSA has to improve a lot in China, where we were not successful – even though we have the best profit margins in the industry. I see many opportunities for both sides to fix this.–
Aren’t more than a dozen brands too much for both groups? General Motors also became more profitable with only four brands than with eight …
We could ask the VW group this question and probably got a good answer. As a car lover, I am very happy to have all these brands together. They are brands with a long history, passion and a lot of potential. It is up to us to map the different markets in the different regions in order to do a lucrative business. I see the number and variety of brands that we will combine as a great advantage for the future company.–
Some manufacturers face millions of buses due to the stricter emission limit of 95 g / km CO2nd. What about PSA?
We are on the right path. In January and February we were under 93 g / km in Europe. We check monthly so that it is less difficult to correct if necessary. Some of our competitors will have problems in the fall if they find that they are above the limit. And it is likely that they will then have to grant significant discounts on their models with little or no emissions.–
Corona virus: 810,000 cars fewer
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The Honda factory in Swindon, UK, has now also come to a standstill.
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Due to the corona pandemic, almost 100 auto production plants and various supplier companies are currently at a standstill in Europe (it was in the Sunday view). This means that in March and April only around 14.2 million cars will be built in Europe instead of around 15 million vehicles. In Germany alone there will be 250,000 fewer cars in this period. But also in Spain (–140,000), France (–90,000), England
(–54,600), the Czech Republic (–51,000) and Italy (–41,300), according to calculations by international market watcher Berylls for the German magazine “Auto, Motor und Sport”, will roll off significantly fewer new cars.If you look at the individual car manufacturers and their production plants in Europe, the VW group alone with its four largest brands has a minus of 214,000 vehicles (Audi: 28,000, Seat: 39,000, Skoda: 41,000, VW : 106,000). This is followed by PSA (Citroën, DS, Opel, Peugeot, Vauxhall) with minus 137,000 vehicles, BMW (–98,000), Renault / Nissan / Mitsubishi (–97,000), Daimler (–69,000), FCA (Alfa, Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep and others, –55,000) and Ford (–54,000).
If car production in Germany starts to run at full speed again from June, the sales losses due to production downturns according to Professor Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch-Gladbach near Cologne (D), are likely to be up to 20 percent in Germany alone 80 billion euros.
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