Opel will build Citroen C5 successor, PSA official says
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RENNES, France -- General Motors Co.'s Opel unit will build the Citroen C5 successor as part of the U.S. automaker's alliance with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, according to an official at the French company.
Under current plans, production of the replacement C5 mid-sized sedan will move to a GM plant, Jean-Luc Perrard, head of PSA's factory in Rennes, France, told regional newspaper Ouest France.
Rennes builds the C5, alongside the Citroen C6 and Peugeot 508 mid-sized cars. Production volume was 182,300 last year.
Perrard did not say which Opel factory would build the C5 replacement, code-named X8. Opel's plant in Ruesselsheim, Germany, builds the brand's Insignia mid-sized car.
Perrard told the newspaper that the Rennes factory may build other Peugeot and Citroen models to compensate for the loss of the C5. He dismissed union fears that the factory will close in 2016 when the C5 replacement is due and said investments of 40 million euros are planned for the site.
As part of their partnership, GM and PSA have previously said that mid-sized cars such as the Opel Insignia and Citroen C5 and Peugeot 508 would draw on GM platforms while subcompacts such as the Opel Corsa and Citroen C3 would be based on PSA technology.
A PSA spokesman said that plans have yet to be finalized. "The alliance working groups will communicate their final plans before the end of the year," the spokesman said. "It is too early to draw any conclusions."
PSA employs 5,500 people at Rennes, compared with about 12,000 workers there over three years ago, which makes it likely that PSA is on track to close the plant, a union official told Automotive News Europe.
You can reach Bruce Gain at bgain@crain.com.
