PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG), Europe’s second-biggest carmaker, will close one French factory and reduce output at another plant in the country as the region’s auto sales drop for a fifth straight year. The moves will help the automaker eliminate another 3,600 positions, lifting its overall job-reduction target to 9,600 jobs, the Paris-based automaker said in an e-mailed statement today. Peugeot previously planned to cut 6,000 jobs. PSA Peugeot Citroen will close one French factory and reduce output at another plant in the country as the region’s auto sales drop for a fifth straight year. PSA Peugeot Citroen will close one French factory and reduce output at another plant in the country as the region’s auto sales drop for a fifth straight year. Peugeot will close its 39-year-old factory in Aulnay and lower production at a plant in Rennes to slash operational costs, it said in the statement. Peugeot’s automotive division will report a first-half operating loss of 700 million euros ($857 million). The carmaker, which has been burning about 200 million euros in cash monthly since the middle of last year, aims to reach an operating cash-flow breakeven by the end of next year, Peugeot said today. Peugeot, Renault SA (RNO) and Fiat SpA (F) have posted the biggest sales declines this year in Europe, where Peugeot now expects the market to contract 8 percent versus an earlier estimate of a 5 percent drop. “I am fully aware of the seriousness of today’s announcements as well as of the shock and emotions that they will arouse in the company,” Chief Executive Officer Philippe Varin said in the statement. “The depth and persistence of the crisis impacting our business in Europe have now made this reorganization project indispensable in order to align our production capacity with foreseeable market trends.”
Deliveries Drop Industrywide deliveries in the European Union will probably fall to 12.2 million vehicles this year, the least since 1995 and 21 percent below the 2007 peak, according to ACEA figures. Renault sales chief Jerome Stoll yesterday scrapped the carmaker’s sales-growth target for 2012 and said the European market may not recover to pre-crisis levels until 2018. Peugeot’s worldwide deliveries slumped 13 percent in the first half to 1.62 million vehicles, the automaker said last week. Renault yesterday reported a 3.3 percent drop in sales for the period as gains outside its home region were unable to offset the region’s slump. Peugeot’s stock has tumbled 73 percent in the last year, valuing the carmaker, which posted 59.9 billion euros in revenue last year, at 2.54 billion euros. The shares have traded around a 23-year low for most of the last month, with investors concerned about the accelerating drop in deliveries.
Overcapacity Rises The first-half capacity utilization rate at Peugeot’s factories dropped to 76 percent from 86 percent a year earlier, Peugeot said today. Overcapacity in Western Europe may more than double to about 2 million vehicles in 2012, according to IHS Automotive. Peugeot Chief Financial Officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon said in March that Europe’s auto market probably won’t recover for years to come. The French company entered into a strategic alliance with General Motors Co. (GM) earlier this year in which the American carmaker took a 7 percent stake to become the second-largest shareholder after the founding family. The two plan to cooperate on purchasing and vehicle development to help lower costs.
source: bloomberg.com
