Topic: Breaking News! Opel to be sold to Peugeot by GM

[Ironhide]

Breaking News!

Opel to be sold to Peugeot by GM!

Just wanted to let you know what's going on in Europe.

[Sly Bob]

Well not EXACTLY true. They are in talks but nothing is agreed upon.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2017/02/14/peugeot-owner-said-explore-acquisition-gms-opel/97886000/

[Kelu]

Ironhide: relax, there where some actions in the past too, backed by German politics and the deal didn't went through.
I don't think GM will give away Opel especially now when they removed Chevrolet from Europe.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide: relax, there where some actions in the past too, backed by German politics and the deal didn't went through.
I don't think GM will give away Opel especially now when they removed Chevrolet from Europe.

I'm relaxed, it's just the German media which pretends that the apocalypse is near.

[Kelu]

Media is like that ... otherwise they fear they are not read/watched

[ChopTop]

I'm surprised GM is even entertaining talks considering how important it is for GM to compete in the European market.  Also, isn't Opel & Vauxhall respected more in Europe, than Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac?

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/02/gm-ceo-says-selling-opel-to-psa-would.html

General Motors CEO Mary Barra told employees that the combination of GM’s Opel and Vauxhall with PSA would be beneficial for both companies.

“While there can be no assurance of any agreement, any possible transaction would enable PSA Groupe and Opel Vauxhall to leverage their complementary strengths, enhancing their competitive positions for the future in a rapidly changing European market,” Barra wrote in a message to staff, according to Reuters.

She then urged employees to not let speculation about Opel’s fate distract the company from doing its business.

Barra concluded by saying that they can’t provide any additional information at this point, “because we are simply not at that point in our discussions.”

It became known only yesterday that GM is in advanced talks with PSA in order to sell them their European operations, including Opel and Vauxhall. The news has been met with worries and criticisms from the German and the British government as they both worry about the future of Opel and Vauxhall respectively.

Additional article: Why GM Selling Opel Could Be Bad News For Fiat
http://www.carscoops.com/2017/02/why-gm-selling-opel-could-be-bad-news.html

[Ironhide]

I'm surprised GM is even entertaining talks considering how important it is for GM to compete in the European market.  Also, isn't Opel & Vauxhall respected more in Europe, than Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac?

Honestly Opel has that low quality image here in Germany and they can't get rid of it. 
My mom is owner of an Opel Zafira 2.2 liter van,  and it's in a perfect shape after 8 years (ok it has a lot of GM / U.S. technology).

As you know Opel sold the Saturn Sky as Opel GT and everytime someone saw my car I got that "oh look a crappy Opel".
So I decided to replace the Opel parts by Saturn ones and now they say " wow what a nice U.S. car, where can I buy it".

GM sold some Chevrolet over here, but Opel complained about it and so they decided to stop selling cars in Germany (except Camaro and Corvette).

For example Chevrolet sold the Captiva SUV in Germany, which Opel sold as Antara (Opel just replaced some parts).
For a good Captiva you paid 26.000 Euro and for the same car as Opel Antara you paid 40.000 Euro.

So Opel complained till GM stopped  selling the Captiva.

We can still buy U.S. cars, but for that we need an importer (except Ford Mustang ECO and GT, you can buy them from a German Ford dealer).

I would like to see more U.S. brands over here.

I had some Audi and Volkswagen and they needed to be repaired over and over again.

My Saturn is still working fine after all these years and I'm pretty satisfied with it.

[Kelu]

Opel is pretty common in my country, I think is on 3rd place after VW and Renault (with their local cheap brand Dacia), is seen as robust brand, not so refined as Audi/BMW/Merc but still a pretty good german car.
As far as I know, Opel is pretty successful in other EU countries as well, more or less.

Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac are either unknown (especially Buick) or degraded brand with their tries to rebrand models from other brands under their umbrella. Lately happens same thing with Fiat/Chrysler.

As you know Opel sold the Saturn Sky as Opel GT and everytime someone saw my car I got that "oh look a crappy Opel".
So I decided to replace the Opel parts by Saturn ones and now they say " wow what a nice U.S. car, where can I buy it".

I did same thing for almost same reason

I had some Audi and Volkswagen and they needed to be repaired over and over again.

I'm sharing same opinion. Besides their faults which VAG doesn't want to accept and recall them, I have the feeling those cars are build not to last especially.

Guys if you have time I invite you to have a look over brands transactions over the last 30-50 years, to see which brand was bought by whom and you will see like a rotational process. I think, because this industry is so rich and owned by few people, these sells/bought/merges are just a game of theater.

So if this happens, we should look a little bit behind, especially Opel brand in Germany is not publicly listed in shares.

[Kelu]

Seems like GM just got out from European market by sellling Opel to PSA group 
What is more interesting, if I remember correctly, back when GM went bankrupt they wanted to "re-organize" by closing or selling different brands, GM had an offer of 6 billion for Opel and the deal didn't go through without a clear motivation. Now they just sell it for a third of that offer, 2.2 billions, to PSA.

I know is easy for find reasons but to me this looks pretty shaddy.