PSA boss Carlos Tavares wants by 2020 Opel out of the red. Part of the restructuring plan could also be a partial sale of Opel’s R & D center. According to the French daily Le Monde, the French carmaker is considering Peugeot Citroën (PSA) such a step.
Four sectors could be divested, valued at a total of 500 million euros, the newspaper reported, citing an internal mid-May PSA document. Affected would therefore be 3980 employees. The sale could be completed by the end of the year. PSA was already approached because of the sales plans to the French companies Altran, Akka and Segula and the German engineering service company Bertrandt and tapped their interest.
PSA 
only commented on the report that so far no decisions have been taken. The group had taken over Opel last year and the carmaker and its British sister brand Vauxhall prescribed an austerity program.
Ope
l spokesman refers to declining orders from GM
An Opel spokesman said the rehabilitation program could “also include strategic partnerships” in addition to internal organizational measures. The center in Rüsselsheim will continue to develop “all Opel models and take over the tasks of the 15 competence centers for the entire Groupe PSA”. Against the background of the “sharply decreasing volume of GM contract work and co-determination”, it is important to find a solution together with the social partners. This was part of the framework agreement signed in December 2017. So far no decisions have been made.
Recently, the works council and management of Opel agreed on the rehabilitation of the loss-making automaker , As part of the agreed compromise, the French parent PSA pledged investment in new models and plant utilization.
Opel boss Michael Lohscheller had recently said that the development center in Rüsselsheim should play an important role in the PSA Group. The center has also been given new competences for the entire Group – including the further development of the fuel cell and an architecture for light commercial vehicles. The research center currently employs 7,700 engineers.