Former Renault boss Carlos Tavares will take over from current PSA Peugeot Citroën president Philippe Varin from the end of March.
It was wideley believed that Tavares would assume the role this month, but a delay is thought to have been made to allow Varin to continue negotiations over a part-sale of Peugeot to Chinese manufacturer Dongfeng. Tavares will, however, take over the general running of the group from later this month.
The announcement coincides with PSA releasing its financial results for 2013. Group revenues dropped by 2.4 per cent on 2012, to €54.1 billion, while revenue from the automotive divison fell by 4.8 per cent, to €36.5 billion. The company had net debt of €4.1 billion at the end of last year.
The ownership structure of Peugeot is likely to give Tavares problems initially: should the deal with Dongfeng go through, since he will have answer to three parties: the Chinese firm and the French state, each with an equal stake, and the Peugeot family. Up until recently that would have included GM too, but the company sold its remaining stake in PSA at the back end of last year for around £153 million.
Additional reporting by Darren Moss, 19 February 2014
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I'm another French car
Really Bullfinch
Agree
There are plenty of outdated stereotypes with French cars mainly from people who claim they know people who have French cars who have no end of problems - which is probably just convenient because they just dislike French cars. Today it is vital that your brand image is strong and this is where they need to concentrate to rid people of their perceptions rather than realities
Most of this has been fuelled by the likes of Top Gear - namely Jeremy who continually say things like "it will be worth £50 in 3 years time" or "it will fall to bits within a year." It is amusing to see people regurgitate these comments based on Jeremy's views without making their own judgement. But I suppose they are the sheep that follow the herd and just buy the same predictable German fodder.
Depressing.
Bullfinch wrote:I don't know
The French are already producing cars of comparable perceived quality to the 'premium' brands. In fact, I would say that they have surpassed certain models based on recent observations of the latest A4, Golf and Up. They have now had a resurgence and I think that your comments are very harsh on what have been a tough few years for French marques. New models like the 308, Cactus and Captur are showing very promising signs that they are back on form. There is a new Espace due imminently, Renault have just tied up with Mercedes and there have been open conversations between MB and Infinity, that might even spawn a large Renault.