Carlos Tavares, 60, sits on a podium at the corporate headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, France, 14 kilometers west of the center of Paris, playing with his wedding ring. It is Thursday, April 25, the French auto maker PSA has invited the shareholders to the Annual General Meeting. Messages for the future flit across flat screens: “Ready for new challenges” or “new market entries”, the hall is bathed in bright blue light. Everything seems to be on the move in PSA, not just Tavares’ hands.
The PSA boss has outdone himself again. Just three years ago, he aimed for an operating margin of 4 percent for 2018, three years later it should be 6 percent. But even today, PSA is one of the world’s most profitable automakers with a return of 7.7 percent. It’s an increase for the fifth time in a row. Even Opel, taken over by Tavares in 2017 and many, many years subscribed to red numbers, writes profits.
Just five years is