Is the Peugeopel coming?
02/15/2017
A report is currently circulating in the media that General Motors could sell the Opel brand to the PSA Group. GM wants to withdraw from Europe, although one has to wonder what will happen to Vauxhall.
The PSA Group and its predecessors have already brought together a whole series of brands, only a few of which have survived. The holding company was founded in 1976 after Peugeot took over Citroën . In 1978, Chrysler-Simca was integrated and continued as Talbot and Talbot-Simca until the brand ceased to exist.
A whole series of French brands had already been absorbed into Peugeot or Citroën, including Panhard.
Just like Opel, Peugeot and Citroën are old car brands with a long tradition. However, the French have not yet taken over any German car brands and the German car factories have rarely extended their arms to their western neighbors.
Whether a culturally sustainable merger/takeover is possible here remains to be seen. In any case, buyers are likely to be somewhat perplexed when they sit down in a Peugeot Astra or an Opel 506. And the fact that even a simple transfer of technology can lead to difficulties has already been seen in the Saab story.
From a car history perspective, we can only hope that a possible takeover will not be a sin against tradition and that perhaps French money will finally make it possible to set up a proper Opel museum.
