FCA + PSA

One story that slipped through the media in recent weeks due to the Trump impeachment inquiry is the announcement of a merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot Société Anonyme (PSA), which would create the fourth largest automaker in the world, after Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai - displacing the current fourth-place automaker, General Motors.  You only need to know all that to see what a game changer this merger will be.

PSA chairman Carlos Tavares (above) has promised that none of the brands sold by either company will be retired, particularly when the whole idea behind the merger is that each company is strong in some parts of the world but not others and they need to shore up each other.  And one big reason Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot need each other is because of the budding electric-vehicle (EV) revolution that's expected to blossom in the 2020s and beyond.  Both firms want to develop electric vehicles to compete with automakers already invested in the EV market, and neither one can do it alone.

Questions about the Peugeot brand's planned return to North America have arisen as a result of this planned merger, with some fearing that such a return was now less likely.  In fact, it now appears that Peugeot may return to the U.S. and Canada sooner than its planned 2026 return.  And that will certainly be good news for people who want more choices in the import-brand market, particularly when it comes to European brands.  It's not clear whether Opel, which PSA bought from General Motors in 2017, would return as well.

With Volkswagen's commitment to offering compact hatchbacks to its loyalist Europhile customers in America in doubt (no more base Golfs for us??) and its push toward more SUVs in America, Peugeot might tempt this VW boy in buying one of its cars, particularly if it were to offer a compact car like the 308 (above),  something I've already indicated before.  Of course, Peugeot would probably emphasize SUVs, too, but who knows - the new-car market could very well change by the middle of the coming decade. And it remains to be seen just what sort of electric vehicles the new company plans to produce, and for which markets.  Add a few unpleasant truths about the Peugeot brand - quality control that makes Fiats look bulletproof, the brand's emphasis on upscale cars rather than small volume cars when it last sold cars in North America - and you start to realize that how the brand will fare in the New World the second time around is anyone's guess.  Just don't expect big changes in the U.S. auto market right away, though; for now, the primary focus of the FCA-PSA merger is to concentrate on technology sharing and corporate integration.  Yet more unknown variables in the whole FCA-PSA equation, to be sure, but variables that will nonetheless keep me interested in the time to come.

And I just might buy a Peugeot car if it turns out that its quality has approached the level of Peugeot bicycles (I've had my Peugeot bike for 25 years).  I'd definitely buy another Peugeot bicycle, if they're ever sold in America again.