Bad day for PSA and by association partner GM: PSA Peugeot Citroen will be dropped from France’s CAC 40 blue chip stock index, market operator NYSE Euronext told Reuters. To add insult to injury, the former blue chip will be replaced by a Belgian company, chemicals group Solvay.
The Peugeot share lost about three quarters of its value over the past 18 months. If you were so inclined, you could buy a piece of PSA for 6 euros today, down from around 21 euros when GM bought seven percent of PSA.
For some reason I picture Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb in Dr. Strangelove.
So, does the government still have a hardon for Peugeot?
You have to stay on those 1%ers.
GM really knows how to pick a winner, don’t they?
The deal was not just a stock investment like GM is some big day trader, this was a technology buy and an economy of scale advantage in struggling Europe. Open your minds people! GM will still make out on this deal even without making money selling the stock.
Look, I’m no GM basher, but let’s look at their “partnership” list:
1. Fiat
2. PSA
3. Subaru
All three ended poorly.
Can’t look at the bad without looking at the good as well…
1. SAIC in China
2. Daewoo in Korea
3. Allison
4. Many other smaller partnerships developing nano steel, higher capacity Lithium Ion batteries and biofuels.
What technology are they going to get? PSA is always at the bottom of European reliability lists. Of the bottom 10 cars in the yearly Top Gear survey, at least 6 of them are always either Citroens or Peugeots.
Don’t worry GM has a plan…… Give PSA 2 billion like Fiat to go away and then in a few years time sell up to them.