NOW VAUXHALL JUMPS INTO THE POOL

by Bob Walsh

Next week the fourth largest car manufacturing corporation on the planet will come into being when Vauxhall joins up with Fiat Chrysler.  The PSA group (which also owns Peugeot and Citroen) will bring the value of the corporation up to about $30 billion dollars value.  (Fiat-Chrysler also owns Maserati and Jeep.)  Last year Fiat-Chrysler sold 4.4 million cars, PSA sold 3.5 million.  They new group figures they can save 5 billion Euros per year without closing any plants by creating cross-compatibility, which is vital with new electric vehicles approaching the marketplace.  

At one time Peugot made a decent car, though they never achieved much popularity in this country other than a niche market for diesel sedans way back in the 1960s.  Fiat is mostly somewhere between crap and seriously deep crap.  Citroens are a joke.  Vauxhall has been building cars since 1903 and was at one time owned by General Motors.  They are said to make some pretty decent cars these days, even if the steering wheel is often on the wrong side of the car.  I don't expect to see my local Dodge dealer selling Citroens or Vauxhalls any time soon.