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Tag: PSA

  • Singtel and Ericsson Partner to Power Tuas Port with 5G

    Singtel and Ericsson Partner to Power Tuas Port with 5G

    This partnership will support PSA Singapore’s plans to create the world’s largest fully automated port by the 2040s to meet the increasing demand for global transshipment.

    The existing automated vehicles at the port, like automated guided vehicles (AGVs), will be upgraded to 5G to improve real-time shipment tracking and streamline crane operations for smoother cargo transportation between ships and the berth.

    To facilitate these upgrades, Singtel will provide a network slice from its 5G network to offer dedicated resources such as high speeds, high bandwidth, and low latency for mission-critical applications. They will also create secure private networks tailored to the port’s security needs to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access. The implementation of 5G will enable PSA to handle 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually once Tuas Port is fully operational, nearly double the current capacity.

    Singtel’s CEO, Mr. Ng Tian Chong, noted that 5G’s capabilities will enhance communication and data transfer, achieving more efficient port operations. PSA’s Regional CEO, Mr. Nelson Quek, expressed that they are commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technologies like 5G to optimize port operations and respond to customer needs effectively.

    Ericsson’s Head of Singapore, Philippines, and Brunei, Mr. Daniel Ode, emphasized that 5G is transforming the seaport sector by improving efficiency and eliminating human error. PSA will explore 5G applications like predictive maintenance using drones and extended reality (XR) to enhance efficiency and reduce downtime over the next three years.

    Singapore’s seaport is already one of the most efficient globally, and the implementation of 5G will further enhance its capabilities. Singtel has been investing in advanced technologies to help businesses accelerate digital transformation. They have achieved nationwide 5G standalone coverage and conducted trials at Sentosa to demonstrate viable 5G use cases for industries requiring fast speeds and low latency. Singtel’s focus on unlocking advanced 5G features like network slicing will drive widespread enterprise adoption and foster innovation.

  • PSA Boss Sees More Auto Deals

    PSA Boss Sees More Auto Deals

    The head of Peugeot maker PSA Group expects more consolidation in the auto industry as carmakers invest vast sums to make electric vehicles, he said on Monday, while predicting some wouldn’t make it through the coming decade.

    “Only the most agile with a Darwinian spirit will survive,” Carlos Tavares said at the Reuters Automotive Summit teleconference, adding PSA was no longer investing in internal combustion engines as Europe and China push for cleaner driving.

    Tavares also said PSA was far ahead of its objectives in meeting European Union CO2 emission targets.

    PSA is working towards a planned merger with Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) and Tavares reiterated this was on track for the first quarter of 2021.

    “So far, so good,” he said, adding much of the hard work in bringing the two companies together had already been done.

    PSA and FCA will operate under the name Stellantis after they merge, becoming the world’s fourth-largest carmaker.

    Tavares said one of the tasks facing the merged group would be improving its performance in China, the world’s largest car market, where it will have a considerably smaller market share than in Europe and the United States.

    “No global car company can afford not to be in the largest car market in the world,” Tavares said.

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  • Fiat Chrysler Automobiles And Groupe PSA Amend Merger Terms To Conserve Cash

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles And Groupe PSA Amend Merger Terms To Conserve Cash

    Peugeot maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) have restructured the terms of their planned merger to conserve cash, and also stepped up the promised levels of cost-cutting during the pandemic. The two companies, which are set to merge into Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, said in a joint statement late on Monday that FCA would cut to 2.9 billion euros ($3.4 billion) the cash portion of a 5.5 billion euro special dividend its shareholders will receive under the terms of the accord they signed last year.

    France’s PSA, whose brand portfolio also includes Citroen and Opel, will in turn postpone the planned spinoff of its 46% stake in parts maker Faurecia until after the merger’s closing and extend it to all shareholders of the new group. Faurecia’s market capitalization is around 5.9 billion euros. “Amendments preserve the balance of original combination agreement,” the two groups said, adding that ownership of Stellantis would still be split 50/50 between current PSA and FCA shareholders.

    A source said on Monday that the aim of those changes was to reinforce the balance sheet structure of both companies after the COVID-19 crisis and ensure that the merger plan is concluded as soon as possible.

    Analysts had argued that such a large cash payout to FCA shareholders, led by controlling investor EXOR , the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, could weaken the new carmaker’s finances, as the auto industry is paying a high price for the coronavirus outbreak.

    Confirming last week that the deal was on track, FCA Chief Executive Mike Manley said both he and PSA CEO Carlos Tavares were aware of the need for the two firms to get to the merger with the strongest balance sheets possible as well as for shareholders to get what they expected.

    FCA and PSA said annual estimated synergies from their merger were now seen at more than 5 billion euros, compared with an initial estimate of over 3.7 billion.

    The two carmakers confirmed that they expect to complete the tie-up process by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

    Both earlier this year scrapped dividend payments on 2019 results, each worth 1.1 billion euros.

  • Groupe PSA Opens New Technical Centre In Chennai

    Groupe PSA Opens New Technical Centre In Chennai

    PCA Motors India, part of Groupe PSA today announced opening its new India Technical Centre (ITC) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The company says that the new technical centre will play a key role in the smoother and more efficient working of the employees of PSA India, in addition to boosting the capacity of the group to accelerate further in India. The new technical centre has come up in a specific building area, Chennai One, which is part of one of the Chennai Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Groupe PSA says the new facility has been designed and built in a frugal and efficient way, consistent with the spirit of scalability corresponding to the India project.

    Commenting on the launch, Emmanuel Delay, Executive Vice President & Head of India-Pacific, Groupe PSA, said, “The new India Technical Center [ITC] is an important step for the development of Groupe PSA in India, and is definitely an asset to grow the Group’s business in the India & Pacific region. This is part of our strategy to develop a global network of state-of-the-art technical centre, strategically positioned in India, to support a customer-oriented agenda. With the new centre, we’re focusing our investment in creating a cohesive work environment to accelerate our growth. This unified approach will improve the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of our employees while enabling us to address evolving consumer needs more quickly in the future. Our investment in ITC further emphasizes the importance of India to our global business.”

    Groupe PSA’s new technical centre will house departments of Research & Development, Programs and Projects, Global Purchasing Hub, Supply Chain, Process and Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, KD Excellence Centre and Product. In fact, going forward, the state-of-the-art centre will also house a workshop for styling, architecture and assembly of prototypes.

    Commenting on the launch, Eric Apode, Senior Vice President, PCA Motors India, said, “The new India Technical Centre is the next strategic step for Groupe PSA in India. It will allow the group to accelerate quickly its growth in India, through the development of new products and deployment of our strategy in and outside India. The area around our new centre is popular for housing dozens of international and Indian companies this gives the Groupe strong confidence of attracting Indian talent to the new ITC. The Monozukuri philosophy, the art of creating objects in an efficient and effective way is now taking shape with our new India Technical Centre, which will benefit group operations domestically and globally.”

  • Peugeot manufacturing plant debuts in Quảng Nam

    Peugeot manufacturing plant debuts in Quảng Nam

    The Trường Hải Automobile Corporation (Thaco) in co-operation with French car manufacturer Peugeot Group (PSA) officially inaugurated a new manufacturing plant and rolled out two made-in-Vietnam models – the Traveller Luxury and Traveller Premium – in the central province of Quảng Nam yesterday.

    The luxury European car brand’s plant, which cost VNĐ4.5 trillion (nearly US$200 million), was designed with a total capacity of 20,000 cars per year for domestic use and export.

    The general director of Thaco Phạm Văn Tài said the plant was thanks to the relationship that had been built between Thaco and Peugeot since 2013.

    “The newest Peugeot models follow the successful introduction of SUVs  Peugeot 3008 and 5008 in Việt Nam. The plant is equipped with modern production lines and updated automation technology to meet the luxury brand’s standards under the supervision of French technical experts,” he said.

    He also added that 4,500 Peugeot 3008 and 5008 were sold in Vietnam in 2018, leading the European luxury car brand segment in the domestic market.

    General director and CEO of PSA Laurence Noel said the introduction of the Peugeot Traveller marked an important step in the development of Peugeot and positive co-operation with Thaco.

    She said the debut of the two models was a result of the latest interest in the newest French car brand in Vietnam after the successful debut of the SUV models.

    She said the Peugeot Traveller had made an impressive start in the European and global markets after it was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016.

    Laurence also said the latest made-in-Vietnam MPVs conformed to the strict control standards of the PSA and network of PSA plants around the world.

    Thaco has been an exclusive agent for the French car giant’s return to the local market in 2014.

    The local manufacturer has already opened 13 Peugeot showrooms with 3S (sales-services-spare parts) facilities across the country.

    Thaco has produced and distributed vehicles for Kia from South Korea, Mazda from Japan, Peugeot and BMW.

    The local carmaker has invested VNĐ17.478 trillion (US$773 million) to build an agricultural and forestry industrial park, the expansion of the Thaco-Chu Lai Mechanical Automotive Industrial Park, the new wharf at Chu Lai-Trường Hải Port and residential quarters for workers in Quảng Nam Province’s Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (OEZ).

    It has also built 32 automobile manufacturing and support industry plants in the OEZ, creating 8,000 jobs and contributing $700 million to the provincial budget each year.

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  • France and Germany To Support Battery Cell Consortium

    France and Germany To Support Battery Cell Consortium

    France and Germany have asked the European Commission to approve state subsidies for a cross-border battery cell consortium including carmaker PSA with its German subsidiary Opel and French battery maker Saft, a German official said on Monday. The two countries have earmarked 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to support company alliances to help reduce European carmakers’ dependence on Asian suppliers and protect jobs at risk from the shift away from combustion engines.

    The economy ministries of both countries sent a letter of intent to the European Union’s executive body asking it to give a provisional go-ahead, a German economy ministry spokeswoman said, without giving a sum for the planned state funding.

    “We’re now waiting for Brussels to give us the green light,” the spokeswoman said.

    German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier will meet French counterpart Bruno Le Maire in Paris on Thursday to discuss the matter, aiming to make progress with forging further battery alliances. The FAZ report said that the PSA/Saft alliance was planning to convert an Opel factory in the western city of Kaiserslautern close to the French border into a battery cell production site.

    Among the more than 30 companies that applied for state funding at the German Economy Ministry are carmakers Volkswagen and BMW, as well as German battery maker Varta and Swedish battery manufacturing startup Northvolt. Saft, a 100-year old French company owned by energy company Total, produces a range of batteries for industrial applications.

    It has joined forces with German industrial group Siemens, electronic components specialist Manz, Belgian chemicals group Solvay and Belgian material group Umicore to develop a new generation of batteries for electric vehicles.

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  • Ambassador To Return As PSA’s EV Brand For India

    Ambassador To Return As PSA’s EV Brand For India

    While the PSA Peugeot-Citroen group has officially announced that it will bring its Citroen brand to India, we finally have some news on its plans for Ambassador too. Two days before holding its first-ever official press conference in India to show us Citroen’s debut model for the country, we have learnt of a parallel plan afoot within the company. Speaking on specific conditions of anonymity, senior PSA board member and reclusive heiress Evié de Courant has shared with this reporter that the Ambassador brand will be used exclusively for electric vehicles to be sold in India only. The sub-brand will be the first new addition to the PSA family, after its last acquisition of erstwhile GM brands Opel and Vauxhall in August 2017.

    The Ambassador range of cars will likely only debut post 2022, and it is not as yet decided whether it would entail a standalone retail network. While Citroen will have a full-fledged dealer network, Ambassador branded cars are likely to be sold using an exclusive online sales strategy. Workshops for the two will be common though. The plan is to initially launch a compact SUV or crossover style car, and then a premium hatchback. Both are expected to share their platform and some components with similar sized ICE (internal combustion engine) models from the Citroen brand, to maximise economies of scale. The intent is to make Ambassador a profit-making entity from within the first quarter of the start of sales.

    PSA has also been in Formula E since 2015-16 and will bring a lot of its learnings to the EV plan. Citroen’s premium brand DS has also announced its range of EVs for Europe, which will use the E-Tense badge. The DS3 Crossback E-Tense is expected to be the first model and is expected to have a 330-kilometre range. Expect the Ambassador crossover to sport a similar electric powertrain.

    While the initial focus will be on India, the company believes the Ambassador brand will have a strong resonance with Indian diaspora across the world – especially in the Commonwealth states, which are also largely right-hand-drive. And so there is already a feasibility study on to examine the export potential of Ambassador badged products from 2023 onwards, according to Ms de Courant.

    It may be recalled that whilst entering into its two joint ventures (JVs) with Hindustan Motors (HM) in January 2017, PSA had also acquired rights to the Ambassador brand for ₹ 80 Crore a month later. At the time, HM had released a statement that read, “Ambassador has been an iconic brand and a surplus asset with us. We were looking for a suitable opportunity and found the right buyer in the PSA group. We intend to use the proceeds from the sale in clearing dues of employees, lenders and others.”

    It was at the start of 2017 that the two companies had also entered into two partnerships with an initial investment of ₹ 700 Crore for vehicle and engine manufacturing in Tamil Nadu. The first of the two JVs is between PSA and HMFC or Hindustan Motors Finance Corp for the assembly and distribution of new cars. HFMC currently also assembles Mitsubishi and Isuzu branded cars. The second is a JV for engine making with AVTEC – hived off years ago from HM that is a components and engines supplier to the auto industry. We trust the two will have a lot more success and will build on a strong foundation, unlike the veracity of this report. And on any other day we would have loved for this news to be true

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  • Citroen India To Unveil Its First Model Early April

    Citroen India To Unveil Its First Model Early April

    Retail News had exclusively confirmed that the C5 Aircross will be the French carmaker’s first model in the Indian market and will be locally assembled here using about 70 per cent of the local contents at Groupe PSA’s Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu. The Indian-spec Citroen C5 Aircross which made its first public appearance last year will be unveiled on April 3. It’s just been a few days that Citroen brand was affirmed by the PSA Groupe for India and the company has decided to showcase its first model.

    The Citroen C5 Aircross is also one of the design finalists for the prestigious World Car Of The Year (WCOTY) design award. It measures 4500 mm long and is underpinned by Groupe PSA’s EMP2 platform which will also spawn a plug-in Hybrid variant at a later date. Powering the Citroen C5 Aircross is a 2.0 litre diesel engine and a 1.2-litre petrol engine which are mated to an eight-speed auto transmission as standard. These drivetrains (engine + gearbox) are already being manufactured at the Hosur plant for exports. The cabin is equipped with an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system along with a 12.3-inch TFT-digital instrument screen and gets 20 new age driver assistance features. The Citroen C5 Aircross, when launched, will compete with the Jeep Compass and Hyundai Tuscon in India.

    We also gave you a list of the models which Citroen may be considering for the Indian market. According to our sources in its European headquarters, Citroen is also evaluating the C3 Aircross as the second model for India which will likely be launched in FY2021 after its scheduled facelift. The facelifted Citroen C3 Aircross will also be assembled at the Hosur plant which Citroen has established along with the CK Birla Group under a 50:50 Joint venture. The French marque has invested ₹ 600 crore in the plant so far and has a manufacturing capacity to produce 200,000 powertrains and 300,000 transmissions.

    Further investments will be made to target manufacturing 50,000 units of passenger vehicles annually as the company is planning to launch its first model in India in 2021.

  • PSA signs Malaysia production deal to boost Asia reach

    PSA signs Malaysia production deal to boost Asia reach

    PSA Group has signed a deal with Malaysian company Naza to jointly produce PSA-branded cars for Malaysia and other Asian markets. It is part of the automaker’s plans to boost its presence in the region after a failed bid to form a partnership with with Proton Holdings.

    PSA said in a statement on Monday that it had signed a share sale agreement and a joint venture agreement to establish a shared manufacturing hub in Gurun, Kedah, in Malaysia. PSA will own a 56 percent stake in the manufacturing hub, but no deal value was disclosed at the press event in Kuala Lumpur.

    The Malaysian plant will have a 50,000-unit capacity. Output of the Peugeot 3008 will begin this year, with the Citroen C5 Aircross following in 2019, PSA said.

    Naza said that with the joint venture it aimed to export 20,000 cars from the plant in the next three years.

    “The Naza Group will have sole responsibility for the distribution of Peugeot, Citroen and DS Automobiles in the domestic market and, with PSA, will explore distribution prospects in other ASEAN markets,” the statement said.

    PSA said the deal formed part of the company’s Push to Pass strategic plan to boost sales. That plan envisages a 10 percent increase in sales by 2018 and a further 15 percent by 2021 versus 2015 for the French group.

    “The creation of the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) hub in Gurun, Kedah, is a significant leap forward for PSA that will lead to the development of a profitable business in the region as part of our Push to Pass strategic plan,” PSA CEO Carlos Tavares said.

    PSA’s entry into Malaysia echoes that of Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group’s last year. Geely bought a 49.9 percent stake in Malaysia’s Proton, pledging to help the struggling national automaker to strengthen its presence domestically and in the region. PSA was also in the running to form a partnership with Proton.