Mega merger at Opel mother: German car pope predicts drastic cuts in important areas

The PSA and Fiat Chrysler groups will merge.

The fourth largest auto company in the world emerges from the deal.

How does this affect the German subsidiary Opel?

• “Elephant wedding” in the auto industry:

  Opel parent PSA

  and

  Fiat Chrysler

  merge to form the fourth largest group.

• What effects does the

  merger have

  for the traditional German brand with the lightning bolt in its logo?

• The

  merger

  brings opportunities, but also dangers.

  One thing is certain: the cost belt will remain tight.

Rüsselsheim - Since

Opel fell

from

General Motors

to the French hands of

Groupe PSA

in the summer of 2017

, CEO Carlos Tavares has managed to lead the traditional German brand back into profitability.

However, this did not happen without personnel effects: The Portuguese, the successor to the colorful Carlos Ghosn, runs the company with an iron hand and tightened the cost belt a lot: At Opel, thousands of jobs were cut, through retirement or severance payments.

So the brand with the lightning bolt was brought out of the red relatively quickly.

Opel parent company PSA: After merging with Chrysler Fiat, new mega-corporation is created

More than three years later, the next major turning point is about to be completed: the

Opel parent company PSA

and the US-Italian

Fiat Chrysler (FCA)

will become one of the world's largest automotive giants: In a virtual general meeting, the shareholders approved the planned merger under the name 

Stellantis

"green light".

The merger is to be implemented "very quickly" according to the plans of the boardroom around Tavares.

While the 62-year-old

will manage

the fortunes of the

new mega-corporation

, Fiat heir John Elkann will act as chairman of the board of directors.

+

Opel SUV in front of the headquarters in Rüsselsheim.

In all likelihood, the traditional brand will soon be part of the Stellantis Group.

© imago images / Jan Huebner

Incidentally, “Stellantis” is Latin and stands for the desire to “reach for the stars”.

The problems, however, remain earthly: From a German point of view, the question arises as to

what consequences the deal will have for the Opel brand.

Inevitably, the impression arises that worries are not unjustified: after all, the German subsidiary is competing for customers with even more sister brands than before.

In addition to Fiat and Chrysler, FCA also brings together the manufacturers Jeep, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Dodge and Ram under one roof.

During the

renovation of Opel

, Tavares once again lived up to its name as a cost and job killer; before that, he had put

Peugeot Citroën

back on the road to success.

According to

the

dpa

,

the Rüsselsheim-based company has a

further thousand positions available until 2023, which will lead to a thinning of the production facilities.

Opel: What are the consequences of the PSA deal?

According to

PSA

and

Fiat

, the merger will cost around four billion euros, but on the other hand it will save five billion euros - and that every year.

With the merger, the car manufacturers want to reduce

development and construction

costs and complete the range in all areas.

According to Tavares, plant closings are not planned, however: the unions only believe this commitment to a limited extent.

Auto expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer has expressed himself pessimistically how the mega-deal will affect the German car manufacturer.

Germany's “auto pope” believes that there

is a risk of job losses

at Opel, especially in the

development division

: “Tavares is a tough

restructuring

engineer

who will make a lot of profit with few employees (...) Suppliers in Europe and employees at Opel the buck, ”said Dudenhöffer's gloomy prophecy in a report by

ZDF.

#Stellantis - that's the name of a new auto giant.

A merger that the shareholders of the Peugeot Group and Fiat Chrysler have now approved.

Opel is one of them.

What does this mean for the employees?

pic.twitter.com/vtVc4Kf8EZ

- ZDF today (@ZDFheute) January 4, 2021

However, the merger would also bring advantages - for example in terms of innovation in the field of electromobility.

And that inevitably has an impact on the consumer, because petrol has become more expensive again since the turn of the year.

For Winfried Kretschmann, increasing the CO2 price is essential for combating global warming.

(PF with dpa)

List of rubric lists: © imago images / Jan Huebner