This week it became apparent that PSA Peugeot-Citroën and General Motors are having talks about the possible takeover of GM’s European division by the French automaker. This includes the Opel and Vauxhall brands, which have been a decade-long money drain on General Motors. The two automakers have been working together closely on the development of a handful of models and are looking for opportunities to boost each company’s profitability, which includes a sale of the two brands. GM has had a stake in PSA until 2013 when it became apparent that projected savings from their cooperation and platform sharing would fall short of expectations. After this breakup, the French company had to be bailed out by the French government and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor, which each control 14% of the shares.
Would a new, more intense cooperation bring the promised synergies? And does this mark the start of a much-needed wave of consolidations in the European car market? Or will it only cause PSA to lose focus on its own financial recovery and resurrection of its brands? Let’s look a the pros and cons for both parties involved:
In the last decade, as the European passenger car market has slumped from a record high of just over 16 million units in 2004 to a record low of 12,27 million in 2013, sales of Volkswagen have shown very little effect from this crisis. VW brand sales in 2013 were just 9.000 less than in 2004, and as a result the brand’s market share has grown from a low of 9,59% in 2004 to a record 12,57% in 2013. This means that VW has positioned itself as the clear market leader in Europe, leaving its three closest competitors Ford, Opel/Vauxhall and Renault scrambling for second place, all at least five full percentage points below the German brand.
Ford, Opel/Vauxhall and Renault each have set short- to mid-term goals of either reclaiming or maintaining a second place in the European brand charts, fully aware that’s the best they could hope for, as Volkswagen is too powerful to let any of them even come near. 
After a tiny 1% increase in 2013, European convertible sales are back down 12% again in the first half of this year. The top-3 of the segment remains unchanged, as the VW Golf Cabriolet has held on to its advantage over the Beetle softtop. I had thought the Opel/Vauxhall Cascada would be able to challenge the two Volkswagens this year, but so far it lags far behind, as theVW still sells almost twice as many Golf convertibles as Opel and Vauxhall sell Cascadas.
Ferrari started this trend in 2002 when the Italians decided to name their supercar Ferrari Enzo. While the model’s two predecessors, F40 and F50, were named to celebrate the company’s 40th and 48th anniversary in 1987 and 1995 respectively, the Italians may have been a bit too quick with the development of their next supercar. It was already completed and ready to be sold in 2002, so the Italians must have called for an emergency board meeting during lunch time:
The convertible segment in Europe remains virtually stable from 2012 to 2013, but the ranking is shuffled by the introduction of new models and large declines of existing models. Volkswagen is the convertible segment’s biggest brand, with no less than three cars in the top-1o, including the 2 best selling models. The VW Golf Cabriolet holds onto its lead, but barely. A 43% drop in its sales gives the VW Beetle the opportunity to come within 150 units of the top spot. Of course, the new generation Beetle (which losses the “New” in its previous name as New Beetle), is largely responsible for the decline in Golf Cabrio sales, as customers seem to prefer the newer model of the two. It would be interesting to see which of these two softtops finishes 2014 in the lead.
General Motors must be reading 
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General Motors has a problem in Europe. The world’s second largest automaker European Opel brand (named Vauxhall in the UK) is losing money faster than drunk guy in a strip club.