Two decades of rapprochements and breaks between European car manufacturers

The French automotive giant, Renault, and its Italian-American counterpart, Fiat Chrysler, plan to announce an alliance that will further redefine the European automotive sector, which has already experienced two decades of takeovers, from Alliances and breaks.

Here is an overview of other important contracts, some of which failed, from the 1990s.

DaimlerChrysler, a flop

In 1998, the German group Daimler-Benz reached an agreement to associate the struggling US automaker, Chrysler, with the prestigious Mercedes brand. It was billed as a merger of equals, but Daimler invested $ 36 billion in this deal and led the series from the start.

In 2005, the combination had deteriorated; Daimler boss Juergen Schrempp resigned and his successor Dieter Zetsche announced in February 2007 that Daimler would sell most of his shares in Chrysler. Three months later, he sold 80.1% to the US investment company Cerberus Capital Management for 5.5 billion euros.

Fiat: two American adventures

In the late 90s, the troubled Italian group Fiat, controlled by the Agnelli family, went on a search for a partner. In 2000, he agreed to sell 20% of his shares to American giant General Motors.

However, Fiat's situation did not improve, and in February 2005, GM gave up the deal, paying 1.55 billion euros to cancel a so-called put option forcing it to buy back the rest. shares of Fiat.

In mid-2009, a Fiat fitter signed an agreement approved by US President Barack Obama to save Chrysler by starting to buy shares of the US group.

– Renault-Nissan, powered

In 1999, Renault acquired a 36.8% stake in the Japanese group Nissan near bankruptcy and the Romanian brand Dacia.

Renault's director, Carlos Ghosn, succeeded in bringing the three companies together and taking the lead in 2005. Dacia has gone from being a ridiculous Eastern European constructor to a respected low-cost brand that regularly contributes to the company's bottom line. mother.

Cross-ownership has allowed Renault to own 43% of Nissan's shares, while the Japanese group holds 15%.

Nissan has also taken a majority stake in Japan's Mitsubishi Motors. In 2018, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi became the world's largest car manufacturer and currently manufactures around 10.8 million cars.

However, the imbalance in the relationship has resulted in serious friction, as evidenced by the arrest in Tokyo of former Renault chairman and Nissan, Ghosn.

Volvo: first to Ford, then Geely

In 1999, while Ford was the most profitable American car manufacturer, it bought the Swedish Volvo brand for $ 6.45 billion (about 4.64 billion euros at the time).

A few years later, however, Japanese competition and rising prices for oil and steel convinced Ford that it was time to look for a new buyer.

In December 2009, he announced the sale of Volvo to Chinese group Geely for $ 1.8 billion.

PSA buys Opel

In 2017, the French group PSA, which owns the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands, would buy General Motors' European subsidiary, which includes Opel and Vauxhall, to create the second-largest European carmaker, behind Volkswagen.

The German Opel, which recorded its first profit in 2018 after years of losses, accelerates its international expansion in 2019 and has announced its return to Russia after more than three years of absence.

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© 2019 AFP