Its an Astra Jim, but not as we know it!
With the recent announcement that GM are to sell its European Vauxhall/Opel operation to PSA Grp, the French car manufacturer of brands Peugeot, Citroen and DS, the landscape of car manufacturing, not least in the UK, is set to change again.
PSA join VW and FCA as one of the European car manufacturing powerhouses, further evidence of the desire by hungry corporations to find new markets and benefit from even more economies of scale.
With all of the recent changes you may be forgiven for not knowing who now owns what brand so here's an update:
BMW: BMW, Mini, Rolls Royce
Daimler AG: Mercedes, Smart
GM: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Holden, Daewoo
PSA: Peugeot, Citroen, DS + Vauxhall/Opel
Volkswagen: Audi, Bentley, Porsche, VW, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bugatti (Plus Ducati motorbikes and MAN Trucks)
FCA: Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Abarth, Ferrari
Ford: Ford, Lincoln
Honda: Honda, Accura
Renault/Nissan: Renault, Nissan, Accura, Lada, Infiniti, Dacia
Geely: Volvo,
Hyundai: Hyundai, Kia
Subaru: Subaru
Suzuki: Suzuki
Toyota: Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu
Tata: Tata, Jaguar, Land Rover
With all these acquisitions you can of course expect to find plenty of shared 'bits' on many cars housed under one of the larger manufacturing groups. You might not mind buying a Seat or Skoda that runs on Audi's previous generation chassis or engine but it doesn't stop there.
Across many of the Groups there is investment and shared technology and shared parts. Driving round a corner in your new Infiniti Q30 you might be aware that the indicator arm you're using closely resembles one that you used in your last Mercedes. You might not be aware that the engine in your car also powers a Mercedes A Class but is actually built by Renault!
On the light commercial vehicle front the situation is even more common with Fiat, Vauxhall, Renault and Nissan producing basically the same van with a different badge for each.
There are many vehicles produced as part of multi brand deals and many parts used across a Groups vehicle lineup and of course this is not necessarily a bad thing if the consumer benefits in a better value product, so long as we are all aware of exactly what we are buying!
We do wish PSA success in reinvigorating Vauxhall in particular, one of the UK's oldest car makers still in existence.
