General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) could be about to offload its European Vauxhall and Opel brands to the maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars.
French carmaker PSA Group SA today disclosed it is holding talks with the US autos giant about buying its European Opel division.
In a statement on its website, the French firm said: “PSA Group confirms that, together with General Motors, it is exploring numerous strategic initiatives aiming at improving its profitability and operational efficiency, including a potential acquisition of Opel / Vauxhall.”
It added: “There can be no assurance that an agreement will be reached.”
GM and PSA already share production of SUVs and commercial vans, a relic of their last attempt to forge a broader alliance, which was unwound in 2013 with the sale of the US firm’s stake in PSA.
The French government holds a 14% stake in PSA, as does the Peugeot family and Chinese firm Dongfeng Motor.
Any deal would create a carmaker with about 16% of the European market and would overtake Renault SA to become the second largest carmaker in the region, after Germany’s Volkswagen AG.
News on the possible disposal comes a week after GM reported a loss of US$257mln from its European operations in 2016.
That was the sixteenth consecutive loss-making year for GM in Europe, bringing its cumulated losses on the continent since 2000 to more than US$15bn.