Paris (AFP)

French automaker PSA (Peugeot, Citroën) remained profitable in the first half of the year despite a 67.5% plunge in net profit to 595 million euros due to the health crisis, demonstrating its strength ahead of its marriage to Fiat Chrysler.

The collapse of the global auto market resulted in a 34.5% drop in sales for PSA (which also includes the brands Opel, Vauxhall and DS) to 25.1 billion euros.

But the group, in the process of merging with the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler (FCA), had sharply cut costs in recent years and continued to cut spending during the crisis.

PSA has confirmed its profitability targets for the automotive division for the 2019-2021 period, and it expects a rebound from the second half of the year.

"This half-year result demonstrates the resilience of the group, rewarded by six consecutive years of hard work," commented group boss Carlos Tavares. "We are determined to achieve a solid rebound in the second half of the year while finalizing the birth of Stellantis", the new group resulting from the PSA-FCA marriage, "by the end of the first quarter of 2021", he added.

"The group's resilience is probably one of the best in the automotive industry," said CFO Philippe de Rovira, stressing that PSA was even able to survive on its own. But "Stellantis is a fantastic opportunity to do even better, by combining the strengths of both groups."

PSA had announced in mid-July that its global volumes had fallen 45.7% from January to June, victims of the Covid-19 pandemic which paralyzed trade and car factories in the spring.

"The month of June saw a very strong rebound in sales and orders in Europe and July follows the same trend of a very rapid recovery," said de Rovira. He underlined the success of the group's latest launches, in particular the new versions of the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa city cars, and the warm welcome of the electric versions.

© 2020 AFP