GM is focused on finishing PSA plans, Girsky says

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky reiterated the automaker does not intend to get more in PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and called conjecture about enlarging ties between the automakers a distraction.

The move signifies a further alliance with General Motors or with Chinese automaker Dongfeng is being negotiated, Le Figaro said.

Girsky, 51, is managing GM's attempts to stem losses in Europe by middecade and reconstruct the Opel brand.

Girsky on Friday referred to opinions by CEO Dan Akerson last month in Shanghai that the automaker does not mean to invest more cash into PSA "at this time."

"If we find something change we'll reevaluate that," Akerson said. "It is sort of steady as she goes."

The organization's sales decreased 9.8 percent during 2013's first half. GM wrote down its Peugeot investment by $220 million before this year.

"Peugeot is a really great business," he said. "They know the way to work when capital is tight because that is what they have done."

While General Motors has dropped more than $18 billion in Europe since 1999, General Motors narrowed its firstquarter loss in the area, outpacing Ford and helping the business beat analysts' earnings estimates.

General Motors is introducing new versions in Europe, like the new Opel Adam subcompact car and Mokka SUV. The automaker also is reducing spending, including strategies to cut $500 million in annual costs during the following 36 months. GM plans to shutter its Bochum assembly plant in the conclusion of next year, which will indicate the first automobile factory in Germany to close since WW II.

While Girsky said he sees positive indications for GM's European company, he wasn't cheerful about sector sales within the area.

"Things have started to slowly stabilize but it is market by market," Girsky said. "Things continue to be awful. I do not need to leave a person with the belief that things will improve any time soon there because that is not what we are thinking about."

He categorized Germany for a "little soft" and Russia as weakening while the United Kingdom is performing better and Italy and Spain are stabilizing at "low amounts."

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09.12.2014
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