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Management Changes
Carlos Tavares
Philippe Varin
Dongfeng Motor Group
PSA
Europe
November 25, 2013 - 3:13 am ET -- UPDATED: 11/25/13 7:48 am ET -- adds board approval
PARIS (Bloomberg) -- PSA Peugeot Citroen's board has approved hiring former Renault COO Carlos Tavares to replace Philippe Varin as CEO at the French manufacturer, people familiar with the matter said.

Varin, 61, plans to step down next year as head of Europe's second-largest automaker and wants Tavares, 55, to initially serve as his No. 2, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision has not yet been made public. An announcement will come as soon as today, the people said. Pierre-Olivier Salmon, a Peugeot spokesman, declined to comment.

Tavares, who left Renault three months ago, will join Peugeot as the automaker struggles to return to profit, stop cash consumption and expand outside Europe. As the third CEO to lead Peugeot in the last seven years, he would also be charged with bringing stability in an industry where strategic plans take years to unfold. During that time, rival automakers in France, Germany and Italy have all been led by the same CEO.

"He is a highly regarded manager," said Jose Asumendi, an automotive analyst at JPMorgan in London. "After working for some time with Varin to understand the dynamics of the group, he would be an excellent candidate to lead the transformation."


Tavares, 55, left Renault at the end of August after saying he would like to run another automaker.

Dongfeng deal

The move comes as the French manufacturer, which reported a first-half operating loss of 510 million euros ($690 million) in its automotive unit, tries to partner with Dongfeng or another automaker to lower its reliance on Europe, where it sells more than 50 percent of its vehicles. Peugeot has proposed a capital increase of at least 3 billion euros, in which Dongfeng and the French state would take equal holdings of about 20 percent, people familiar said last month.

Separately, Varin told a German newspaper Die Welt that it would "make sense to deepen the partnership" with Dongfeng

"I won't rule anything out," he told the newspaper in an interview. PSA has so far consistently declined to comment on the Dongfeng talks or capital increase plan.

Asked about the reported plans for Dongfeng to take a stake in a capital increase, Varin told Die Welt: "First you have to find the right industrial projects, then you worry about the necessary financing. You shouldn't put the proverbial cart before the horse."

Small stake

The Dongfeng plan, however, has hit a snag as Chinese automaker seeks a smaller stake than first discussed, people familiar with the matter said last week.

Dongfeng is weighing buying about 10 percent, half the size of the original proposal, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. The Chinese company is more interested in expanding an existing industrial venture than purchasing a stake, they said.

"If PSA wants to raise equity then I think it makes sense to show to the market that you're willing to make some big changes," Erich Hauser, a London-based automotive analyst with International Strategy & Investment Group, said in an e-mail. "Putting in place a new CEO would send just that message to investors and Dongfeng."

French newspaper Le Figaro reported that PSA plans to hire Tavares to replace Varin. Tavares didn't immediately respond to a request from Bloomberg for comment.

Tavares left Renault at the end of August, two weeks after Bloomberg published an interview with him saying that he would like to run another automaker because CEO Carlos Ghosn, 59, planned to stay for the foreseeable future.


PSA hired Varin as CEO in 2009. He received a 4-year contract extension on March.

Factory closing

PSA hired Varin as CEO in 2009, following the departure of Christian Streiff, and his contract was renewed by the supervisory board on March 12 for another four years. Varin declined to comment on succession plans when asked about the matter Saturday at a conference in Berlin.

Under Varin's tenure, PSA has announced a plan to cut investments, eliminate 11,200 jobs and close a factory on the outskirts of Paris to stem losses and cut industrial overcapacity. The CEO also trimmed PSA's management board to four executives from six to streamline operations.

More recently, he signed a three-year labor agreement with the company's unions to reduce overtime pay and freeze salaries in exchange for investment guarantees and a pledge not to close any French factories.

Il cambio di amministratore delegato e' sempre una fase critica per ogni azienda ma se sei nelle condizioni di Psa diventa un momento da far tremare i polsi.
Molte fonti di stampa francesi stanno riportando l' assunzione di Carlos Tavares da parte di Peugeot-Citroen.
Carlos Tavares e' un manager portoghese, con una carriera quasi interamente in Nissan e Renault, era arrivato a diventare il vice di Ghosn.
Ad agosto in un' intervista-suicidio professionale aveva dichiarato che gli sarebbe piaciuto molto lavorare per Ford e Gm, dopo 2 giorni Ghosn lo aveva accontentato licenziandolo in tronco.
Varin condividerebbe il potere con Tavares per un anno per poi lasciare definitivamente il gruppo.
Non si può nascondere che Varin non e' riuscito a salvare il gruppo, arrivo' nel 2009 dopo la cacciata di Streiff, ha compiuto molti errori, ha stretto un' alleanza fallimentare con Gm ed ha dovuto accettare la pesante influenza dello stato francese per salvare la compagnia.
La situazione del gruppo rimane ancora in bilico.

Parlando con uno che lo conosce molto bene.. tavares sembra uno in gamba e può essere molto utile a psa

Nell' ambiente automobilistico Tavares gode di un' ottima reputazione, poi essere un sottoposto di Ghosn non deve essere facile.
Se la gioca con Marchionne in quanto a pazienza con i sottoposti.

Si dice che sia stato silurato proprio perchè in grado di fare le scarpe a ghosn

Probabilissimo, Ghosn e' un forte accentratore, caparbiamente resiste come ceo sia di Renault che di Nissan anche se chiaramente non ha tutto il tempo per seguire le operazioni dei 2 costruttori contemporaneamente.
Tavares stava facendo un ottimo lavoro presso Renault, non so quando gli sia convenuto di passare a Psa, e' una promozione ma in una barca che sta affondando e che rimarrà a galla grazie allo stato francese, non proprio un' azionista debole.

GENEVA -- Incoming PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares wants the company's upscale Citroen DS product line to become a stand-alone brand.

The DS perfectly epitomizes French glamor and the Latin lifestyle, Tavares said.

"German automakers make money mainly thanks to their premium brands and DS is PSA's premium brand," he said.

Tavares, who joined PSA from French rival Renault, said he was impressed by what Citroen did with DS while he was Renault's chief operating officer. "As soon as I joined PSA, I congratulated the DS team for the excellent work they have done so far," he said.

Tavares did not give any timescale on when DS could become a stand-alone brand. While he wants to expand the DS line, he says PSA will need to rationalize the Citroen and Peugeot model lineups so the company can return to profitability.

"When you have too many models you do not have enough market money to support all them," Tavares said during a roundtable discussion at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday. He declined to provide specifics of which models could be cut or when.

He also considers the Citroen C4 Cactus compact, which debuted in Geneva, as typical of future mainstream Citroens, designed around comfort, easy of use, smart and innovations. One innovation is the so-called Airbumps on the sides and bumpers of the C4 Cactus, which are intended to protect the car from minor bumps and scratches. The Airbumps will be confined to Citroen's C-line of mainstream models. "You will never see Airbumps on any Peugeot model," he said.

In terms of brand positioning, the Peugeot 308 compact, which was named 2014 European Car of the Year on Monday, epitomizes what Tavares sees as Peugeot's brand values: a convergence of the rigor, seriousness and robustness typical of a German car with the emotion of a Latin brand.


Prime dichiarazione sulla strategia del gruppo francese da parte del nuovo ceo.
Tavares a maggio delineerà i principali cambiamenti, per adesso ha detto chiaramente che le gamme future di Peugeot e Citroen saranno meno estese.
C4 e probabilmente C5 non avranno eredi dirette, la 5008 e la 3008 avranno una sola erede.
DS sarà un nuovo marchio, mentre Citroen spingerà su veicoli semplici come la c4 cactus e c3-4 Picasso.
Peugeot non stravolgerà la propria immagine, Tavares la immagine come collegamento tra la razionalità delle marche tedesche e l'emozionalita' dei brand italiani.
Non sono esclusi ulteriori tagli.

Con tanti cari saluti al tiriamo fuori "nmila" modelli che "è la strategia giusta".....

_________________
Sai che cosa diceva quel tale? In Italia sotto i Borgia, per trent'anni, hanno avuto assassinii, guerre, terrore e massacri, ma hanno prodotto Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci e il Rinascimento. In Svizzera hanno avuto amore fraterno, cinquecento anni di pace e democrazia, e che cos' hanno prodotto? Gli orologi a cucù.( O.Welles)

Mi sa che sei un po' vittima della propaganda di Marchionne.

Psa dal 2008 in poi ha ridotto fortemente gli investimenti per i nuovi prodotti, tra le vittime ricordiamo le eredi di C5 e il ritardo delle piccole C1-108, i cambi a doppia frizione, lo sbarco in India, l'espansione in Russia e in America Latina, i nuovi suv, etc...
Rispetto a Fiat Psa ha tagliato di meno comunque, certo non le e' bastato difatti lo stato francese ha dovuto salvarla 3 volte in meno di 6 anni.
Adesso i francesi hanno una struttura azionaria completamente differente e devono riposizionarsi in base alle richieste di Dongfeng e stato francese, nuovi azionisti forti.
Trasformare Ds in un marchio autonomo e' un'operazione molto rischiosa e richiederà tempo, in Cina potrebbero avere successo ma in Europa la strada e' molto in salita.
D'altronde molti costruttori negli anni di crisi hanno trovato la salvezza nei loro marchi premium, giusto per dare qualche cifra l'anno scorso BMW ha guadagnato 7 miliardi dalle attività automobilistiche, Mercedes 5 mentre degli 11,7 miliardi che Vw ha guadagnato 8 venivano da Audi, Porsche e Bentley.

Luca Ciferri and Bruce Gain
Automotive News Europe
April 7, 2014 06:15 CET
New PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares takes over an automaker that has lost more than 7 billion euros in the last five years because he says, "making money was not the core value here." That is one of the first things the 55-year-old former No. 2 at Renault plans to change. Other challenges include reducing PSA's bloated car lineups, strengthening the automaker's presence in China, adjusting the company's European production footprint and navigating the potential minefields that come with having to please powerful new shareholders.

Tavares welcomes the long list of tough tasks. "When you have the opportunity to contribute to a turnaround, I think that's exciting," he told Automotive News Europe.

On April 14, Tavares, PSA’s third CEO in five years, will unveil his Back in the Race recovery plan for Europe’s second-largest automaker after Volkswagen Group. The straight-talking Portuguese national shared his views on the problems PSA faces at the Geneva auto show last month. Based on his comments, as well as feedback from industry watchers, the automaker has a number of challenges ahead to end its massive cash burn and position itself for long-term success. Tavares’s key tasks include:

• Increasing operating profit: Tavares says to do this PSA will need to sell its cars “at the right price.” It also must reduce production costs and work efficiently with suppliers.

• Reduce working capital: Tavares says a key here is to streamline PSA’s inventory of unsold vehicles, which he finds much too high.

• Manage cash better: Tavares wants all investments to provide an adequate return. He believes PSA should abandon car segments where its models are unprofitable and that it needs to avoid oversaturating segments.

• Invest in DS: Tavares wants to transform the Citroen upscale subbrand into an internationally recognized stand-alone luxury marque that can compete with Germany’s premium brands.

• Focus on China: PSA needs to build even stronger ties with partner and part owner Dongfeng Motor.

• Reposition in emerging markets: PSA must reduce its product lineups in money-losing countries such as Russia and Brazil.


PSA CEO Carlos Tavares says the C4 Cactus highlights what he wants from future Citroens: comfortable design, ease of use and intelligent innovations.

Sharper focus

Tavares says PSA will stop making unprofitable models and focus on vehicles that generate high volumes and strong margins, something he did successfully while he was chief operating officer at Renault from 2011 until last summer. “His accomplishments at Renault are remarkable and show what is possible,” Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank, told Automotive News Europe.

One segment where PSA has potential to streamline is compact cars. With the recent addition of the Citroen C4 Cactus, PSA offers five compact hatchbacks for two brands (the others are the Citroen C4 and DS4 and Peugeot 308 and 3008). Only Volkswagen Group offers the same number of compact hatchbacks, but it spreads them over three brands (Audi A3, VW Golf, Golf Plus and Beetle and Seat Leon). There was a huge difference in demand as VW Group’s compact hatchbacks had combined sales of 816,000 in Europe last year compared with PSA’s 287,000, according to data from JATO Dynamics. Analysts say one reason for the big difference is that PSA models lack key features offered by VW Group models.

“The Peugeot 308 competes against the Golf, but it does not have four-wheel drive or an automatic transmission. Tavares clearly needs to change PSA’s product portfolio,” said Florent Couvreur, a Paris-based analyst at CM-CIC Securities.

Not so French

Couvreur sees two other problems that Tavares needs to address: PSA’s lack of scale and its excessive French-ness. “If it can’t share development costs with other partners, then PSA will continue to lose money,” she said. “For example, PSA’s agreement with Ford for diesel engines works well, now Tavares needs to seal other agreements like this.”

Couvreur also believes that PSA needs to focus more on making cars that appeal to customers outside its home market. “Today PSA makes cars for French people, with a focus on diesel engines, manual transmissions and hatchback bodies. Tavares must make sure that PSA puts cars in the pipeline that people will want to buy outside of France and around the world,” she said. That means more gasoline engines, more automatics and fewer hatchbacks.

PSA is set to announce that it will spend more on r&d and that it will develop technologies for a smaller range of cars that will appeal to a wider base of customers worldwide, with less emphasis on France. The money for future investments will come in part from a 3 billion euro capital increase, in which China’s Dongfeng and the French state will initially contribute about half the money in exchange for stakes of 14 percent apiece. Banco Santander also will contribute funds through a partnership with PSA’s lending arm.


The Peugeot 308, the reigning European Car of the Year, epitomizes what PSA CEO Carlos Tavares sees as the brand’s strength: the convergence of French flair and German robustness.

In terms of brand positioning, Tavares says the 308 compact, the 2014 European Car of the Year, epitomizes what he sees as Peugeot’s strengths: a convergence of the rigor, seriousness and robustness typical of a German car with the emotion of a Latin brand. He also considers the C4 Cactus a benchmark for future Citroens because of its comfortable design, ease of use and intelligent innovations.

Better pricing in Europe

Analysts say that to get PSA to break even by 2016 or sooner Tavares must reduce PSA’s cash burn by increasing the efficiency of its European production network and closing the pricing gap with competitors. “If Tavares can close the price gap with Volkswagen by 10 percent … that alone could fix the bottom line,” said Paris-based Deutsche Bank analyst Gaetan Toulemonde.

Commerzbank’s Gommel said Tavares proved at Renault that he knows how to turn around a brand’s pricing. “He can improve pricing more easily than when he was at Renault because PSA has a stronger brand reputation than Renault has.”

PSA shut its plant in Aulnay, France, last year and is looking at ways to lower production costs further in its home region. One way is to add models to the underutilized plants, but Tavares also wants to maximize the efficiency of PSA’s European factories, French newspaper Le Figaro reported. Tavares said in February that margins for the Citroen C-Elysee and the Peugeot 301, which are made in Vigo, Spain, are marginal and did not reflect an efficient use of capacity. “Tavares must improve PSA’s European footprint. Capacity is clearly an issue and existing capacity needs to be better utilized,” Gommel said.

Streamline Russia, Brazil

Tavares is expected to announce that PSA will streamline its offerings in South America and Russia. It is losing money in both regions, analysts say. PSA has a production capacity of 100,000 units in Kaluga, Russia, but the plant only produced 20,000 vehicles in 2013, French newspaper Le Monde reported. The automaker also offers more than 25 different vehicles in Russia, which Deutsche Bank’s Toulemonde says is too many, especially in a market that has been in decline since last year. “Tavares needs to sell fewer than 10 models there,” he said.

Added Commerzbank’s Gommel: “In South America and in other emerging markets where it already has local production, PSA must do better. It needs to improve its localization at its plants in emerging markets, where it continues to import too many parts.” Doing this would better protect PSA from exchange rate fluctuations, the analysts said.

Meanwhile, CM-CIC’s Couvreur pointed out that Tavares was instrumental in making Renault successful in eastern Europe and South America by offering limited ranges that sold in high volumes. “I think that PSA can be profitable in Brazil and in Russia in two to three years by adopting a more localized strategy. These two countries currently are Tavares’ problem markets,” she said.

Tavares enters PSA as the automaker is starting to gain traction in China. His job will be to strengthen the automaker’s ties with Dongfeng while avoiding potential conflicts over technology sharing. “Tavares must clearly make the boundary between PSA’s and Dongfeng’s technologies,” CM-CIC’s Couvreur said. She thinks that PSA needs to protect its expertise but fears that this will be difficult. “Dongfeng’s two representatives on PSA’s supervisory board will try to accelerate this technology transfer,” she said. Couvreur also fears that one day Dongfeng will leave the alliance with enough knowledge and technology to compete against its former partner. She says this has happened in China to companies such as Alstom and Airbus. “This is going to be a very touchy subject for Tavares,” she said.

More to do in China

Commerzbank’s Gommel said PSA’s challenge today, however, is expanding its presence in China and to do that it is relying heavily on Dongfeng. “PSA has fixed a lot of its problems in China, but it has more do. Clearly, the partnership with Dongfeng will help, but China still needs to become a more important part of its business,” he said.

Established in 1969 and based in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Dongfeng already operates three factories with PSA in the world’s largest auto market. The partners plan to raise joint production to 750,000 vehicles by the end of 2015 from a record 550,000 units sold last year. Dongfeng wants to sell a combined 1.5 million Dongfeng and PSA vehicles a year in China by 2020.

Despite the big challenges that Tavares faces, the consensus is that he has the right experience, the right tenacity and the right amount of supervisory board support to fix PSA. “The Peugeot family has blocked certain decisions in the past that would have been good for the company,” Commerzbank’s Gommel said. “Tavares has a more independent board now that will not put the family’s interests first.”

Toulemonde also is optimistic about the new CEO’s chances. “Tavares’ track record speaks for itself,” he said. “You just have to look at what he has done at Renault, what he has done at Nissan and the perception the market has of him.”


Ottimo articolo sulle prime mosse che Carlos Tavares ha di fronte a se' come capo di Psa nei prossimi mesi.
E' indubbio che Psa sia diventata la grande malata del settore automobilistico negli ultimi anni, c' e' molta attenzione sul nuovo ceo considerato uno dei migliori nel settore.
Le sfide sono numerose, eccone una sintesi:

1) Trasformare la gamma di Peugeot e Citroen: in una delle sue prime dichiarazioni alla testa di Psa Tavares ha sostenuto che è' necessario sfoltire diversi modelli. Secondo gli analisti ci sono troppe compatte a 5 porte (Ds4, C4, 308,3008, C4 cactus), i tentativi di auto low cost come 301 e C Elysee sono dei flop, Ds deve avere un suo posizionamento staccato da Citroen, la categoria dei suv e quella delle medie e' da riorganizzare.

2) Maggiore attenzione ai mercati extraeuropei: anche qui il lavoro e' immenso. In Cina la ristrutturazione e' stata completata con successo, e' ora di collaborare maggiormente con il nuovo azionista Dongfeng facendo attenzione a non farsi rubare la tecnologia. In Russia e in America Latina la situazione e' nera con modelli non adatti, fabbriche sottoutilizzate e forniture troppo dipendenti dall' Europa.

3) bisogna ridurre il numero di auto invendute, migliorare la redditività dei singoli modelli, riprendere a spendere di più in ricerca e sviluppo.

4) conciliare gli interessi opposti di famiglia Peugeot, stato francese e Dongfeng. Un' impresa al limite dell'impossibile.

Carlos Tavares Presents the “Back in the Race” Plan

to step up the Group’s recovery

Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the PSA Peugeot Citroën Managing Board, today presented the 2014-2018 “Back in the Race” roadmap designed to accelerate the Group’s recovery, which is including three metrics:

- Recurring positive Group operating free cash flow by 2016 at the latest.

- €2 billion in total Group operating free cash flow over the 2016-2018 period.

- A 2% operating margin in the Automotive Division by 2018, with a target of 5% during the next medium-term plan covering the period 2019-2023.



“Back in the Race” is built around four operational objectives:


1.DS, Peugeot and Citroën, three brands that are recognised around the world

- The development of DS as a full-fledged premium brand will be stepped up.

- At the same time, the Group will continue to reposition the three brands, while clarifying their line-ups to ensure their complementarity, and will improve their price positioning.


2.A focused, targeted global product plan more aligned with market demand

- The Group’s line-ups will be gradually streamlined to 26 models by 2020. By focusing on a more compact range, PSA Peugeot Citroën will be able to improve market coverage and improve margins by targeting the most profitable segments.

- In addition, this will help to optimise the use of platforms and programmes around the world and to allocate R&D spend and capex more efficiently.


3.A drive for profitable international growth accordance with the fundamentals of the automobile business

- The Group will continue to accelerate its expansion in China, by tripling volumes with Dongfeng in 2020 and successfully completing the development of the DS brand.

- The partnership signed with Dongfeng will also help to drive faster growth in the ASEAN region.

- At the same time, the Group will turn around the situation in Russia and transform the business model in Latin America, with the objective of returning to profit in the two regions in the next three years.

- Lastly, PSA Peugeot Citroën will seek expansion opportunities in new growth countries, for example in Africa or the Mediterranean basin.

- To do so, a new global organisation structured around six major regions – Eurasia, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Latin America, China and ASEAN, Asia-Pacific – will be put into place.


4.Upgrading to improve competitiveness, especially in Europe

- To address its competitiveness challenges, PSA Peugeot Citroën has stepped up the modernisation of its plants and will bring them in line with global benchmark production facilities, while continuing to reduce costs and inventory.



Continue to transform the corporate culture

The recovery is well under way, but the Group needs to develop a real profit-driven culture and a global approach in order to return to profit more quickly. Pursuing the cultural change already underway at PSA Peugeot Citroën is an important prerequisite for meeting the preceding four objectives.

In presenting the “Back in the Race” plan, Mr Tavares said: “With this Back in the Race plan, I am committed to accelerating the Group’s recovery by channelling all of our teams’ creative potential so that we can quickly get back on the road to profit.”


Oggi Carlos Tavares ha presentato la sua visione per il ritorno del gruppo Psa alla redditività, entro 2 anni i francesi dovranno tornare a registrare un free cash flow positivo mentre dal 2016 in poi ci sarà nuovamente un margine operativo.
Sono state confermate molte delle indiscrezioni precedentemente fuoriuscite, la gamma sarà dimezzata a 26 modelli su 3 marchi Peugeot, Citroen e Ds (che anche in europa sarà un marchio a sé stante).
Psa punta ad una forte crescita in Cina, vuole passare dalle quasi 600.000 auto del 2013 a 1.500.000 ( marchio Dongfeng compreso).
Oltre alla Cina Russia e America latina saranno al centro delle attenzione con lo scopo di arrivare ad un margine positivo nelle due aree entro 3 anni.
Si parla genericamente di rinforzare la presenza manifatturiera europea del gruppo senza scndere nei dettagli.
Posso solo augurare buona fortuna a Tavares, ne avrà bisogno e anche molta.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares is aiming the company's Peugeot brand directly at Volkswagen Group's core VW marque as part of his Back in the Race turnaround plan for the struggling French automaker. Tavares wants to transform Peugeot from a general mass-market brand into what the French auto industry calls a haute de gamme (top of the range) volume automaker selling cars that command prices in Europe as high as VW models. If the plan works, it will help PSA return to sustainable profitability.

When he presented his Back to the Race business plan for PSA in Paris last month, Tavares said the net pricing of Peugeot cars in Europe was 6.5 percent lower on average than comparable VWs. He aims to reduce this gap to 4.7 percent by 2016 and cut it to 0 percent to 3 percent by 2020.Tavares says that Peugeot models such as the 208 subcompact, 2008 small SUV and 308 compact already match their VW rivals in terms of technology and quality.

To lift Peugeot’s transaction prices, Tavares wants the brand to focus on a smaller range, with its lineup reduced to 16 models by 2018 from 25 now and to 13 models by 2022. He also wants to reduce brand engineering and overlapping between the Peugeot and Citroen marques and focus on segments that have global appeal. Tavares did not give details on how the model ranges of Peugeot and Citroen will look in future or say which models will be axed, but industry watchers and company insiders told Automotive News Europe that the Peugeot brand likely will:

• Stop selling minicars when the just-launched 108 comes to the end of its life cycle at the end of this decade, leaving this low-margin segment to Citroen

• Not replace the 807 large minivan, also leaving this segment to Citroen

• Not replace the 207CC and 308CC coupe-cabriolets that compete in a fast-declining European segment in which Citroen does not sell cars.

The Peugeot brand will focus its lineup on the three biggest global volume segments worldwide -- B (subcompact), C (compact) and D (mid-sized), with body styles including hatchbacks, sedans and wagons. The Peugeot brand will offer crossovers in the C- and D-segments based on PSA’s MP2 modular vehicle architecture. The slow-selling 4008, which is based on the Mitsubishi ASX, will not have a successor. The 3008 and 5008 crossovers, both based on PSA platforms, have sold well below expectations and possibly won’t be replaced.

Citroen will remain PSA’s generalist brand, but with fewer models. Initially, Tavares will only cut one car from the lineup by 2016, reducing the range to 14 models from 15, but in the long term Citroen’s range will be drastically cut, shrinking to seven models by 2022. By 2022, PSA’s two main brands will offer 26 models, down from 45 now. Citroen’s DS subbrand will be upgraded to a stand-alone marque with a lineup that will grow to seven models between 2016 and 2018 from five now, then stabilize at six vehicles by 2022.

Tavares said the rationalization of the model range will save PSA about 300 million euros a year and broaden its market coverage. Last year, PSA’s vehicles covered 60 percent of the market in Europe, China and Latin America, the company said. It plans to reach 67 percent coverage in the midterm. More importantly, a refocused range will let PSA in the midterm cover 69 percent of the European, Chinese and Latin American profit pool, up from the current 46 percent, Tavares said.

Autonews rivela alcune indiscrezioni riguardo al piani di Tavares per il marchio Peugeot.
La 108 non avrà eredi, ci sarà solo la C1, 807, 4008, 308 CC e 208 CC non avranno eredi. 5008 e 3008 avranno un solo modello a 5 e 7 posti.
Peugeot si concentrerà sui segmenti B-C-D e derivati.

Yves Bonnefont, chief executive of Citroën's DS brand, has said that the brand will eventually feature six models, a doubling of the three currently offered in Europe.

Speaking at the unveiling of the Divine DS at PSA’s design studio in Paris, Bonnefont said: "We created the DS brand in June. Our ambition is to generate growth by developing the product range – in the mid-term to have six models – which will be the same in all regions."

That’s in contrast to today’s global DS line-up, which includes three models specific to China, an SUV among them. The eventual aim is to offer identical models globally.

Bonnfont did not reveal what the six models would be, but another source suggested that they would include a large and a small SUV, a large and a small saloon car, a replacement for the DS3 hatchback and a new C-segment model that could effectively replace today’s DS4 and DS5.

That the Divine DS is a stylish, premium C-segment hatchback may be significant, although its creators says that it does not hint at a specific model.

Bonnefont also revealed the key attributes of the DS brand, which include "avant-garde design – this is very strong, visible technology that buyers are proud to own, and refinement".

When asked about the brand’s dynamic character, Bonnefont cited "the balance between comfort and dynamism – we want to be a reference in the market for this".

He said that he "could not disclose" whether Hydractive fluid suspension might be used, but added that "the field of comfort is part of the DS DNA and very important".

DS also plans to harness "the know-how of the French luxury houses" to develop the brand’s premium positioning, said Bonnefont.

They are working with Swarovski to develop production-applicable décor, the jewellery and fashion house contributing to the Divine DS concept, while embroidery company Maison Lasage has worked for the first time on an automotive project with the DS Divine.

Asked whether the DS brand would get its own technical centre within the PSA group, Bonnefont said that: "several brands can share the know-how of the group. But we have a dedicated DS product team defining what the car should be, and also a dedicated testing team.

"So at the beginning and the end of the process there are dedicated teams. There are about 50 people and we call them the Commando group".



Durante la presentazione della concept DS divine l'AD della nuova divisione di PSA ha rivelato alcuni dettagli sulla prossima gamma del marchio di lusso.
Ds potrebbe offrire una berlina di segmento C,una berlina di segmento D, un suv di segmento C (il dsx), un suv di segmento B, un'erede della DS3 e un'erede unica a 5 porte per DS4 e DS5.
Al contrario di quanto già previsto non ci saranno modelli DS solo per la Cina, quindi la DS X dovrebbe sbarcare anche da noi ( produzione in Cina).

Scusa DC, ma lo scopo (dal punto di vista cinese) di tutte queste collaborazioni in Cina dei costruttori europei non è proprio quello di acquisire la tecnologia e mettersi al passo con i mercati più evoluti?

Avevo capito male io o DS avrebbe dovuto fare auto di seg. superiori?

Si', Dongfeng vuole utilizzare tecnologie francesi ( si parla soprattutto del pianale di 308 e C4 Picasso, nonché diesel e ibridi) per poter lanciare un proprio marchio di lusso e sbarcare inizialmente in America Latina, Russia e Indocina.
Inizialmente i cinesi erano disposti a salire fino al 30% di Psa e diventarne i primi azionsti, ma (imho per fortuna) il governo Hollande blocco' la mossa.
E' un equilibrio molto precario, da una parte devi collaborare in modo da poter sfruttare meglio il mercato cinese ( es. Vw guadagna ogni anno dalla Cina 4,4 miliardi di euro, Psa solo 0,5) d'altra parte non puoi rischiare di avvantaggiare un tuo futuro concorrente.

Dal B al segmento E, anche se una tempistica certa non c'è.

Prima o poi i ciesi faranno da soli e la tecnologia gliela avranno dati i costruttori europei.

E' già avvenuto.
I costruttori stranieri in Cina sono obbligati a creare joint ventures con partner locali e dal 2008 sono obbligati a cedere buona parte delle loro tecnologie.
Di fatto stiamo sfamando i futuri mostri che potranno divorare i costruttori giapponesi e occidentali nel giro di venti anni.

avevo letto carlos tevez comunque sì tavares è uno in gamba

forse anche meno di vent'anni...

Bruce Gain
Automotive News Europe
February 15, 2015 08:41 CET
Nearly 12 months after PSA/Peugeot-Citroen was rescued from financial disaster, CEO Carlos Tavares is on track to turn around the troubled automaker, industry watchers say.

PSA, which presents its 2014 financial results on Wednesday, has been boosted by surging sales in China, a recovery in Europe and the first results of Tavares' “Back in the Race” strategic plan that aims to achieve sustainable profits at the money-losing French automaker.

"Much to the surprise of many, PSA enjoyed a strong 2014," investment advisers Exane BNP Paribas wrote in a Jan. 29 research report. PSA "is starting to deliver" although the company's structural problems remain, Morgan Stanley, another investment firm, wrote on Jan. 19.

Stuart Pearson, an Exane BNP Paribas Research analyst, said in an interview: "We believe Tavares’s plan is working well so far, as shown by the surprise return to profitability of the auto division at first half of 2014 and the strong free cash flow generated last year.”

PSA’s auto operations swung to a 7 million euros operating profit in the first half of 2014 from a 538 million euros operating loss in the first half of 2013. This was the unit’s first positive result since the first half of 2011.

Exane BNP Paribas predicts that PSA’s automotive division is likely to report a 118 million euros trading profit for 2014 – swinging from losses of 2.11 billion in 2013 and a massive 5.76 billion in 2012.

Other analysts are not as positive. Evercore ISI forecasts a full-year operating loss of 34 million euros for the autos division. Morgan Stanley expects an 84 million full-year loss for the unit. The company's autos business may return to profit next year, the research firm said.

The 2014 result for the autos division – whether it’s a small profit or much reduced loss - will show that Tavares’s “cure” for the automaker is starting to work. PSA’s Faurecia supplier division and its financial arm, Banque PSA, have delivered solid profits for years while losses in the car-making arm almost dragged PSA to the brink of collapse.

Rigorous management

Analysts praised Tavares' focus on improving cash flows, reducing high inventories and axing unprofitable cars since the former No. 2 at French rival Renault became PSA CEO last March just five days after the company was rescued from looming bankruptcy by selling stakes of 14 percent apiece China’s Dongfeng Motors and the French government.

PSA is more disciplined when it comes to capital expenditure and on the working capital side, said Sascha Gommel, an analyst for Commerzbank. "Management is just much more rigorous than it was in the past,” he said. PSA has attacked its high costs and has stepped away from highly unprofitable businesses to focus on more profitable channels. The company is now starting to see the benefits of the cost-savings measures, Gommel said.

In his business plan, Tavares identified as his priorities. Differentiating more the Peugeot and Citroen brands; reducing the automaker’s bloated product lineup by axing the most unprofitable models; reducing its reliance on Europe; cutting high costs in Europe, especially in its French home market.

To reduce costs, PSA is restructuring its Russian and Latin American operations, selling its scooter business and moving its headquarters out of central Paris. The company also is cutting jobs and excess capacity in France and raising vehicle pricing as Tavares pursues a 2 percent margin goal in 2018.

Morgan Stanley said the simplification in the PSA's model line-up in emerging markets seems to have had a more positive impact on inventories and cash flow than first hoped.

Industry watchers says Tavares' turnaround plan is achievable but point out challenges:

• Aging products: PSA’s product momentum may become an issue because the automaker’s fleet is getting older while rivals are refreshing their line-ups, Evercore ISI warned in Jan 12 report. PSA’s fleet will age to 50 months in 2016 from 47 months this year and 41 months last year, the report said. Other analysts said increased demand in China and a recovering Europe may offset the lack of a major product renewal. Tavares cannot invest in new models for a while, said Gaetan Toulemonde, a Deutsche Bank analyst. "Tavares's priority is to restore profitability and to generate positive free cash,” he said.

• Small scale: PSA's global vehicle sales rose 4.3 percent to 2.9 million last year but the number is still fewer than PSA’s record volume of 3.6 million in 2010. PSA needs to grow its business “because sooner or later three million units will not be enough to survive,” Commerzbank's Gommel said. “They need to find a partner to achieve the volumes that the leaders in the industry sell." PSA’s rivals are often three times larger, giving them more spending power, he said.

• Reliance on Europe: Tavares’ plan may be too reliant on Europe where its growth may slow down as its product momentum fades, Morgan Stanley says. PSA’s vehicle sales in Europe rose 8 percent to 1.76 million vehicles last year.

• Dongfeng partnership: PSA plans to expand into Asian markets outside China with Dongfeng but potential benefits from the tie-up will take time to materialize, Morgan Stanley says.

PSA must demonstrate that it can repeat its success this year and in the long term, Commerzbank’s Gommel said. “PSA needs to continue to do what they did in 2014 to make sure that the positive cash flow was not a one-off in 2014 but rather a sustainable performance,” he said.

China boost

China’s appetite for mass-market cars has given the automaker a big boost. The country became PSA's largest market last year, with vehicle sales rising 32 percent to 734,000, or 25 percent of the automaker's global volume. PSA's China market share rose to 4.4 percent from 3.6 percent in 2013.

Exane BNP Paribas predicts that by 2018 the automaker's annual earnings in China will be 1.5 billion euros, equivalent to 150 percent the group’s entire forecast group operating profit for 2014.

Group profit forecast

Exane BNP Paribas estimates that PSA will report on Wednesday positive EBIT of nearly 991 million euros or 2014 for all the group’s divisions, compared with a loss of 1.34 billion in 2012. Evercore ISI also forecasts positive EBIT of 991 million. Morgan Stanley's forecast is lower at 584 million.

A PSA spokesman said the automaker will assess the "Back in the Race" plan’s progress when it reports earnings on Wednesday. The company will offer a more complete status report when the plan, which was announced April 14 last year, is more than a year old, the spokesman said.


Mercoledì PSA presenterà i conti annuali per il 2014 e c'è molta attesa da parte degli analisti che desiderano controllare i progressi fatti nella ristrutturazione della divisione automobilistica.
I dati della prima metà del 2014 sono stati sorprendentemente buoni con una generazione di cassa per 1,5 miliardi ( punto debolissimo di PSA ) e il ritorno ad un mini profitto. Diversi analisti hanno lodato le mosse intraprese da Tavares ma sottolineano che c'è ancora moltissimo da fare e che le sfide per il 2015 sono impegnative.
PSA ha dovuto tagliare massicciamente lo sviluppo prodotti e ciò si rifletterà in una gamma che diventerà sempre più vecchia. Russia e America Latina sono cause di problemi che negli ultimi mesi si sono acuiti, la Cina rimane un punto di forza ma per raggiungere i target del 2018 sono richiesti ancora molti sforzi.

Luca Ciferri RSS feed
Automotive News Europe
April 6, 2015 06:15 CET
Two symbolic events epitomize how PSA/Peugeot Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares has put Europe’s second-largest automaker back on track a year after it needed a 3 billion euro bailout to survive Europe’s long economic slump. One event shows that Tavares is a skilled financial strategist and the other highlights that he is fearless when it comes to slashing the automaker’s fixed costs.

The first big event happened March 23. That is the day PSA returned to France’s benchmark CAC-40 stock index after a two-and-a-half-year absence during which time the automaker reported billions in operating losses. Those losses ended in 2014. As of last month, PSA’s share price had risen nearly 50 percent to 16 euros from 11.30 euros on March 31, 2014, which is when the former No. 2 at Renault officially started as PSA’s chief.

The second big event will occur in the next 18 months when PSA’s top managers relocate from the automaker’s headquarters of about 50 years in the heart of Paris to the less-glamorous, less-expensive Rueil-Malmaison suburb 11km west of the city. Tavares says the move will save PSA about 50 million euros a year in real estate costs. It also will improve synergies between PSA’s three brands, he said, because Peugeot’s leaders are in the downtown location while Citroen and DS executives are in a separate building 6km away.

‘Positive effect’

Like he did when he was Renault’s chief operating officer from 2011 to 2013, Tavares took immediate steps to fix fundamental problems at PSA. The positive results from his actions were evident when the automaker reported its 2014 financial results in February.

The automobile division swung to a 63 million euro operating profit – its first in three years – from a 1.04 billion euro loss in 2013. Group operating income was 905 million euros after a loss of 364 million euros a year earlier. The automaker’s overall net loss narrowed to 555 million euros from 2.23 billion euros in 2013. Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said, “It seems that Tavares continues to have a positive effect on PSA with the company making progress.” Analyst Stuart Pearson of Exane BNP Paribas Research said: “Tavares’ plan is working well so far.”

The number that Tavares says impressed him most was PSA’s operating free cash flow, which excluding one-time gains and charges was 2.18 billion euros last year after the automaker burned through 426 million euros a year earlier. Tavares didn’t expect to reach that level of free cash flow until 2016. “This is a very strong set of free cash flow numbers,” Exane BNP Paribas analyst Dominic O’Brien said. “Pursuing profitability over sales volumes is starting to reap some rewards.” Strong cash generation means more resources to invest in new technologies and products.

Tavares has set an even tougher target of having 4.2 billion euros in cumulative operating cash flow by 2017. That is more than double his previous goal, and he wants to achieve that result one year earlier than planned. PSA also entered 2015 with no debt as net cash stood at 548 million euros at the end of 2014 compared with 4.2 billion euros of net debt at the end of 2013. The liquidity came at a cost to the Peugeot family, which lost its controlling stake in the automaker last year. Following the bailout that was needed to rescue PSA, the French state, China’s Dongfeng Motor and the Peugeots each control 14.1 percent of the company, which has been building vehicles since 1890.


The utilization rate at PSA’s European plants (its factory in Poissy, France, is shown) rose to 79% in 2014 from 72% the year before.

Work to do

Tavares would be the first to say PSA has a lot of work to do to successfully complete his Back in the Race turnaround plan. The automaker still needs to halve its model lineup, reduce overcapacity, improve its retail pricing, shrink wages and cut component costs to lift the automotive unit’s operating margin to 2 percent by 2018 and 5 percent by 2023. In addition, he needs to restructure PSA’s operations in Russia and South America.

Said ISI’s Ellinghorst: “PSA still has a long way to travel.” He pointed out that PSA’s 5 percent margin target is less ambitious than rival Renault’s goal, which is to have an operating margin of more than 5 percent at its auto division sooner than PSA - by 2017. PSA also has to prove that last year’s results can be matched or topped again and again, said analyst Sascha Gommel of Commerzbank. “PSA needs to continue to do what they did in 2014 to make sure that the positive cash flow was not a one-off in 2014 but rather a sustainable performance,” he said.

Another challenge facing PSA is increasing global sales, which rose 4.3 percent to 2.9 million last year, but that trails its record volume of 3.6 million set in 2010. Gommel said PSA has to boost its volume “because sooner or later 3 million units will not be enough to survive. They need to find a partner to achieve the volumes that the leaders in the industry sell.” Many of PSA’s rivals are three times larger, which gives them more spending power, Gommel said.

Tavares says scale is not his No. 1 concern. “Scale is important for purchasing power, but there are areas where it is a penalty rather than a benefit: agility, capability to manage the company, complexity, fixed costs, vulnerability from some crisis in the world,” he told Automotive News Europe. He added that automakers with a similar volume to PSA’s, such as Honda, have done well for decades. Tavares’ main priority is to remain focused on the execution of the Back in the Race plan and avoid any distraction. “Once the plan is fully delivered, we will embrace the future and we will study all the opportunities,” he said.

Too conservative?

The faster-than-expected start to PSA’s turnaround has caused market watchers to accuse Tavares of being too conservative with his midterm and long-term profitability targets. “Tavares is playing the under-promise, over-deliver game after years of watching [Renault-Nissan CEO] Carlos Ghosn do the opposite,” Bernstein analyst Max Warburton said.

The consensus among financial analysts is that the PSA auto unit’s margin will be 1.5 percent this year, Warburton, however, expects it to be 1.8 percent and to quickly rise to nearly 4 percent, largely because of increasing production utilization at European factories as the region continues to rebound from a long downturn. The utilization rate at PSA’s European plants rose to 79 percent in 2014 from 72 percent the year before, company figures show. Experts estimate that a utilization rate of 80 percent to

85 percent is needed for an automaker to run its plants profitably.

Tavares admits that his targets could be considered modest, but he isn’t trying to impress analysts, he is trying to motivate a workforce that felt defeated because of years of failure. It made more sense, he said, to set targets that could be surpassed to start rebuilding his team’s confidence. “We want people to decide for themselves how fast and how deep they are going to implement the turnaround,” Tavares said. “This way they are completely empowered by their own motivation and their own eagerness to bring the company to another level.”

Meanwhile, the CEO also purposely gave a pessimistic prediction of 1 percent growth for 2015 European sales while most other forecasts predict a rise of about 3 percent to 4 percent. “This was to convey the message that we are not counting on tailwinds” to help PSA achieve its goals. He said the automaker has to “fix its fundamentals without any excuses.”

China boost

While Europe remains PSA’s largest sales region, the automaker for the first time sold more vehicles in China (734,119) than in France (637,682) last year. PSA’s China volume increased by 32 percent last year and in 2015 the automaker expects its volume to exceed 850,000. By 2020, that number is forecast to reach 1.5 million vehicles a year.

China is also the main driver behind PSA’s improved profitability. The region provided 303 million euros in pro-forma auto operating profit, which is equivalent to a 7.6 percent operating margin. Without China, PSA’s consolidated auto margin was 0.17 percent (63 million euros). Tavares wants PSA’s China operations to quickly provide even more profit. “We need to move to double-digit margins,” he said, “because we have the potential to do so.” Exane BNP Paribas predicts that by 2018 PSA’s annual earnings in China will be 1.5 billion euros, a fivefold improvement on what was delivered last year.

One question Tavares won’t answer yet is what sales target he wants PSA to achieve along with all its other goals for 2018. When asked why, Tavares, gave a straightforward answer: “There is no commitment on volumes because what’s the point of selling tons of cars while you’re losing money? This is a financial turnaround plan to bring the company back to a sound foundation.” He said that he would not set a volume target until the basics are sound and PSA can grow without sacrificing profit.

La comunità' finanziaria sta lodando Tavares per il successo incontrato nel primo anno come boss di PSA: non solo il gruppo e' tornato a generare profitti ma è riuscito a generare più di 2 miliardi di cassa, per un gruppo che ha avuto recentemente problemi di liquidità e' un risultato fondamentale.
Tavares ha moltissimo lavoro da fare in Sud America e Russia mentre in Cina la situazione è' favorevole con margini quasi del 10%.
Inoltre c'è la difficile situazione di Citroen che non ha un chiaro posizionamento.