If you want to put something away for a rainy day, buy a Peugeot. Don’t drive it, just tuck it away in your garage and wait for a museum to come knocking.
After four straight years of declining profits, Peugeot’s present CEO, Jean-Martin Folz, will retire in February and hand over the reigns to Christian Steiff, the same Christian Steiff who lasted just 100 days at Airbus and who left moments before FedEx cancelled a huge order, and just a day or two after Richard Branson took a rain check on six of the giant planes.
As a parting shot, Folz has reduced Peugeot’s R&D budget by 15 per cent, so no new cars for a while, and arguably the reason why Societe Generale has placed a ’sell’ rating on Peugeot stock.
Having smartly sidestepped the White Elephant called Airbus, Stieff now has to contend with an entirely different animal, one with at least a dozen legs - the family Peugeot. Still owning 30 percent of the stock, freres Peugeot, et tout, have got more at stake than your average shareholder and if things don’t improve might be tempted to listen to Chinese whispers as, having bought up all the oil in Africa, the eastern moguls will want something reliable to put it in. Make no mistake, the Chinese are on a buying spree, and anything caught limping will be a soft target. Could Steiff be the means to a self-inflicted wound?
The Chinese ‘invasion’ is inevitable, but perhaps French patriotism will keep them at bay a while longer.
Gerry Pollard | 11 Nov 06 - 1:46I see VeeDub is to stop Golf production in Brussels, leaving only the Polo lines open. That sounds like a ready-made foothold for any far-easterm manufacturer thinking of manufacturing Chinese copies on our doorstep.
Graham Whyte | 24 Nov 06 - 14:43