PSA CFO, GM No. 2 part of 10-person team to lead new alliance
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FRANKFURT -- General Motors Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen Chief Financial Officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon are among the 10 top-level executives named to a steering committee that will lead the automakers' new alliance.
GM CFO Daniel Ammann and GM Europe President Karl-Friedrich Stracke are also on the committee. PSA's representatives include programs chief Jean-Christophe Quemard and purchasing boss Yannick Bezard. (See box, below, for full list)
The partners expected to start work on joint projects before the end of this year, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.
PSA and GM agreed last month to share vehicle platforms and jointly purchase parts and materials. The companies believe they will boost the size and the scope of their product lineups, save billions on purchasing and revive their struggling European operations as a result of their alliance.
The committee's job is to oversee "activities that are currently part of the alliance and any exploration of other potential areas of cooperation," the automakers said.
PSA said the date for the committee's first meeting hadn't yet been scheduled.
Under the partnership, GM and PSA aim to begin sharing platforms, development duties and costs for cars in the B (subcompact) and D (mid-sized) segments.
The agreement states that GM and PSA must have four products within the first four years that they are either manufacturing or have plans to go into production within the following 18 months.
GM is expected to benefit from PSA's help with hybrid technology and the development of smaller models, while the French automaker can likely capitalize on GM's expertise in SUVs as both manufacturers seek to revive their fortunes in the European markets.
PSA aims to sell 1.5 billion euros in assets to reduce debt, which widened to 3.4 billion euros last year as profit and sales fell.
PSA's automotive business lost 497 billion euros in the second half of last year. As a result, PSA wants to cut 6,800 jobs and trim costs by 1 billion euros this year.
Troubles at Opel/Vauxhall caused GM's European business to abandon plans to reach break-even in 2011. It ended 2011 with a $747 million operating loss. GM has lost more than $13 billion in Europe since the late 1990s.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
Jean-Christophe Quemard, PSA chief of programs
Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon, PSA CFO
Guillaume Faury, PSA r&d head
Yannick Bezard, PSA purchasing chief
Denis Martin, PSA industrial operations chief
GM
Steve Girsky, GM vice chairman
Daniel Ammann, GM CFO
Mary Barra, GM product development chief
Stephen Carlisle, GM global planning head
Karl-Friedrich Stracke, GM Europe chairman
You can reach David Jolley at djolley@crain.com.
