Allegedly, the French PSA group calls back half a billion euros of the purchase price for Opel – the German engines are dirtier than expected. General Motors denies, but in the background haggling.
Jürgen Pander
Opel stand at the IAA: Here is the new Grandland X
Thursday, 30.11.2017
10:53 clock
Demands the French OpelBuyer PSA (Peugeot Société Anonyme) half of the purchase price paid back? That had up Business news specialist Reuters reports, with reference to corporate insiders.
Now the US group has General Motors (GM) responded, for many decades, the owner of Opel. “We know nothing about claims for future CO2 targets, and we can not speculate on matters not raised against us,” GM said Wednesday.
Reuters citing unnamed sources, reported that PSA wanted to recover more than € 500 million from Opel’s CO2 emissions. The French were of the opinion that they had been misled by Opel’s emissions strategy. At PSA it is officially: “No comment from our side,” said a spokesman.
According to GM, there are currently discussions with PSA about adjustments to the takeover requirements. However, it is about questions of accounting and not exhaust problems. The issue of emissions was not applied by PSA during this process. GM provided ample information prior to the sale of the Opel, PSA has carried out a careful examination with the participation of many experts and lawyers, the statement goes on.
Criticism of Opel’s carbon footprint
Opel itself did not comment on the report on request. PSA had taken Opel and the British sister brand Vauxhall in the summer for 1.3 billion euros from GM. The bottom line was the separation from the lossy European business for the Americans, however, a big minus business – last GM estimated the burden of the sale to 5.4 billion dollars. In the last quarter, these extra costs had torn a deep hole in the GM balance sheet.
PSA boss Carlos Tavares had recently publicly criticized the CO2 balance of Opel, where the fleet average was last at 127 grams of CO2 per kilometer. PSA comes to 101 grams. By 2020, 95 grams are required.
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, professor of automotive industry, believes it is possible that a dispute between PSA and GM over the purchase price has flared up. However, the exhaust problem should not be the reason in his assessment. PSA boss Tavares know the Opel vehicles also from the cooperation of both companies very well. “Presumably, the losses at Opel are higher than expected, and the proposed rehabilitation program is not enough,” said Duddenhöffer.