Bend Over: PSA To Change Name

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

PSA, Europe’s second largest car maker after Volkswagen (14.9 percent and 20.8 percent market share respectively in February 2010, as per ACEA) considers changing their name, says Bloomberg. There are several choices on the table, the front-runner appears to be …

PSA.

PSA spokesman Pierre-Olivier Salmon confirmed to Bloomberg: “A change to the company name is currently being considered. One of the possibilities is ‘PSA,’ but no decision has been made.”

Excuse-moi?

See, PSA’s official name is actually PSA Peugeot Citroën, which is a bit unwieldy. Especially with the two dots on the ë (an affliction they share with Ferdinand Piëch, but I digress.) PSA stands for Peugeot Société Anonyme (not an anonymous society, simply a corporation, usually a publicly traded one, à la française.) After buying Citroën, they changed their name to PSA Peugeot Citroën, but kept the brands apart.

Bloomberg surmises that there is more behind that than just a shorter name: “The possible name change would cap moves that have sharpened the Peugeot and Citroen divisions’ identities while reducing their management autonomy. The company put a single designer in charge in 2008 and assigned Jean-Marc Gales, its No. 2 executive, last July to run the brands and fuse their administrative, marketing and dealership networks.”

Salmon said that Peugeot Citroen is seeking a “simplification” of the name to reflect changes to marketing strategy. I’m sure PSA has read Wikipedia’s disambiguation page. One of the highlights of my annual health check is when the doc says “now comes the good part” and administers the PSA test.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Levi Levi on Mar 20, 2010

    Wow. For a second I thought one of the names to be considered was Read More. You're a Master of Suspense, Mr Schmitt! ;-)

  • Telegraph Road Telegraph Road on Mar 20, 2010

    I don't know who does the headlines and pics at TTAC, but he or she definitely deserves a raise. Excellent, TTAC.

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Mar 20, 2010

    Bertel didn't offer a suggestion because he knew TTAC's Best and Brightest could be relied on to step into the breach. Either that, or he's playing the angel and waiting for fools to rush in. Anyway, since there are two brands, Use the first three letters of PEUgeot and CITroen. B&B, I give you "PeuCit S.A.". Unless that means something dirty in French.

  • George70steven George70steven on Nov 24, 2010

    Probably something different. So this is not quite as bad as the Wisconsin Tourist Federation. They changed their name to PSA Peugeot Citroën, but kept the brands apart. car insurance quote

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