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Paris / Rome (dpa) - The CEO comes from Portugal, the chairman of the board of directors belongs to the Italian industrial dynasty Agnelli, the company is registered in the Netherlands and the car brands include Chrysler and Dodge: This is what a global company with European characteristics looks like today.
The French Peugeot manufacturer PSA and the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Group (FCA) close their mega merger on Saturday after long preparations - the new group is called Stellantis.
The somewhat clumsy-looking name is derived from the Latin word for star ("Stella").
Larger events for the start of the auto giant on the weekend are reportedly not planned.
The merger should crown the career of CEO Carlos Tavares, who was already at the top at PSA.
The 62-year-old will lead the fourth largest car manufacturer in the world - with 14 brands such as Opel, Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
Around 400,000 people are employed.
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“There are challenges ahead of us, but also opportunities,” says the tough top manager with roots in Lisbon.
Over the past few years he has restructured the German manufacturer Opel with an iron hand.
The new auto giant wants to ensure mobility.
that is “safe, clean and affordable” - that is the Tavares credo.
The merger was initiated even before the corona pandemic, which brought the automotive industry a dramatic drop in sales.
Since fewer cars are sold, the pressure on Tavares is likely to increase to rebuild the new network.
"There will be a very thick red pencil," said the Duisburg auto expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer of the German press agency in Paris.
«Opel is the blueprint.
No car company needs four large development centers in the USA, Turin, Paris and Rüsselsheim. "
Opel boss Michael Lohscheller told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in October that he saw the headquarters in Rüsselsheim as well positioned in the newly emerging group.
Opel remains the only German brand in the group.
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Even before the Corona crisis, Tavares assured that the new association with major pillars in Europe and North America did not want to close any plants.
The governments in Paris and Rome have already made it clear that they will be very careful about employment.
France and Italy are the home countries of Peugeot and Fiat (“Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino”) - both companies have their roots in the 19th century.
There are worries in Italy, a country where Fiat is concerned.
The union secretary Edi Lazzi of the metal workers union Fiom fears that decisions will be made in France in the future.
The Fiat brand has lost its balance, he said: "I'm not optimistic about what can happen."
The general secretary of the metalworking union, Francesca Re David, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that Italy was in a weaker position in the merger with the French.
The merger is necessary, but the Italian side must also have a say in the future strategy.
FCA was also delayed when it came to electrical engineering, she summed up.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors John Elkann (44) is the grandson of the legendary Fiat patriarch Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (1921-2003).
According to the newspaper “Le Parisien”, the Agnelli family will be represented with around 14.4 percent in the new group and will thus have a strong position.
Other larger blocks of shares are held by the Peugeot family and the French state.
Before the Corona crisis, FCA and PSA together sold more than eight million vehicles and achieved annual sales of almost 170 billion euros.
Only Volkswagen, Toyota and the French-Japanese Renault-Nissan group were bigger in 2019.
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Stellantis can boast high quantities and market shares in Europe and the USA.
Tavares wants to achieve synergies of five billion euros per year.
However, the Dudenhöffer expert is concerned that the new giant in China and Asia has so far been poorly positioned - so it could miss the auto business of the future.
"Asia will dominate the auto business."
Growth rates in this region are immense.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210115-99-39975 / 2
Communication from the Fiom Cgil union (Italian)
Article in newspaper "La Repubblica" on Mega-Fusion (Italian)
Communication of metalworkers union Fim Cisl (Italian)
Communication from the EU Commission, Dec. 2020
Communication PSA / FCA (French), 4.1.