The story
Founded by Citroën and Peugeot on Apr 9, 1976, in Paris.1
Citroën acquisition
In December 1974, Peugeot acquired a 38.2% share of Citroën. On 9 April 1976 they increased their stake of the then bankrupt company to 89.95%, thus creating PSA Peugeot Citroën (where PSA is short for Peugeot Société Anonyme). Since Citroën had two successful new designs in the market at this time (the GS and CX) and Peugeot was typically prudent in its own finances, the PSA venture was a financial success from 1976 to 1979.
Chrysler Europe acquisition
In late 1978, PSA purchased the failing Chrysler Europe (which had been Rootes and Simca) from the troubled US parent firm for a nominal £0.76, plus assumption of outstanding debt, leading to losses for the consortium from 1980 to 1985. Further investment was required because PSA decided to create a new brand for the entity for the disparate French and British models, based on the Talbot sports car last seen in the 1950s. From then on, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the Talbot badge until production of Talbot-branded passenger cars was shelved in 1987 and on commercial vehicles in 1992. In 1979 the company rebranded as PSA Peugeot Talbot Citroën.
All of this investment caused serious financial problems for the entire PSA group; PSA lost money from 1980 to 1985. There were some bright spots, however: mainly thanks to the success of the Peugeot 205 and in spite of Talbot sales withering away, PSA surpassed Renault in sales in the domestic French market for the first time in 1983. In 1987, the company dropped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-developed Horizon; the Samba and Alpine/Solara had been discontinued a year earlier. The company's name was reverted to PSA Peugeot Citroën. What was to have been the Talbot Arizona became the Peugeot 309, with the former Rootes plant in Ryton and Simca plant in Poissy being turned over for Peugeot assembly from October 1985. Producing Peugeots in Ryton was significant, as it signaled the first time that PSA would build cars in the UK (car assembly at Ryton stopped in 2006 and the plant was closed). The Talbot name survived for a little longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely. From 1987 to 1995, the Ryton plant also produced the Peugeot 405 saloon.
Financial crisis, alliance with General Motors (2012–2014)
On 29 February 2012, PSA announced the creation of a major alliance with General Motors (GM), as part of which GM became PSA's second-largest shareholder, after the Peugeot family, with a holding of 7%. The alliance was intended to enable £1.5 billion per year of cost savings through platform sharing, common purchasing and other economies of scale.
In July 2012, a union official said that PSA would cut as much as 10 percent (8,000-10,000) of its French workforce of 100,356 employees on permanent and temporary contract. The jobs cut was more than previously announced.
On 24 October, PSA said it was close to an agreement with creditor banks on €11.5 billion (£11.3 billion) of refinancing and had won state guarantees on €7 billion in further borrowing by its Banque PSA Finance.
On 12 December 2013, General Motors announced it was selling its 7% stake in PSA to Padmapriya Automobile Investment Group.
In 2014, Dongfeng Motor Group, the Chinese partner that builds PSA cars in China, and the French government each took a 13% stake in PSA, in a financial rescue operation, reducing the Peugeot family share from 25% to 14%.
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Rapid expansion
Following Dongfeng and the French government each acquiring stakes in PSA, various cost-cutting measures at the company turned its fortune around and gradually reduced PSA's debt, until the company began to turn a profit beginning in 2015. A new CEO, Carlos Tavares, was engaged and began to implement various cost-cutting measures and expanded the model range of all three core brands, alongside the creation of a new brand, DS Automobiles.
In early 2016, PSA unveiled a roadmap detailing its plan to re-enter the North American car market for the first time since 1991. The same year the company rebranded as PSA Group.
Acquisition of 'Ambassador' brand from Hindustan Motors
On 10 February 2017, PSA announced a 50:50 joint venture with the CK Birla Group, the owner of the Hindustan Motors to sell Peugeot, Citroën, and DS vehicles in India and purchase of the Ambassador brand from Hindustan Motors at the cost of ₹80 Crore (€11 million).
Acquisition of Opel and Vauxhall Motors
On 14 February 2017 PSA announced that it was in talks to acquire Opel and Vauxhall from General Motors. The talks were in an advanced stage, but were a surprise to the press and to much of Opel's leadership as they had plans to transform the company into an electric-car-only brand using the platform of the Opel Ampera-e for a wide range of models. GM agreed to continue to supply PSA with Ampera-e and other electric vehicle technology. In August 2017, PSA completed the acquisition deal of Opel and Vauxhall.
GM reported a loss of £195.1 million from its European operations in 2016, sixteenth consecutive loss-making year for GM in Europe, bringing its amount of losses on the continent since 2000 to more than £11.4 billion. Some expressed concerns about what this major acquisition might do to PSA's bottom line. However, due to this amount of debt, it is likely that GM may give the brands to PSA, or sell Opel and Vauxhall at a highly reduced price. Tavares expects synergies a decade after the takeover.
PSA CEO Carlos Tavares met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May at separate meetings where he toured some of Opel and Vauxhall's operations in Germany and the UK, respectively. He assured the leaders that jobs would be safeguarded and that Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant was to be used by PSA at least until 2021.
Tavares announced that he wants Opel to keep its German brand identity and to embrace it, and that he would leverage Opel's pedigree of German engineering and Motorsport and use the company's heritage to reach markets and customers that may not consider a French car due to perceived reliability issues. He also announced that the Opel and Vauxhall brands would be elevated to new heights within PSA Group, including the sale of Opel and Vauxhall-branded vehicles outside Europe for the first time in many decades.
Bid for Proton
On 17 February 2017, PSA announced its bid to acquire Proton Holdings, which owns the Proton and Lotus brands, but lost out to Geely a few months later.
Merger with FCA
In May 2019 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced its intention to seek a merger with Groupe Renault. However, in early June merger talks were suspended, and never resumed. On 31 October 2019, PSA announced intent to merge with FCA. The merger would be on a 50-50 all stock basis. On 18 December 2019, FCA and PSA announced that they had agreed to the terms of a binding £38 billion merger, expected to be implemented in the next 12 months. The new group is incorporated in the Netherlands and has John Elkann as Chairman of the Board and Carlos Tavares as CEO. On 15 July 2020, the two companies announced that the merged entity will be named Stellantis, from the "Latin verb 'stello' meaning 'to brighten with stars.'" On 4 January 2021, both shareholders of PSA and FCA approved the merger and the deal was closed on 16 January 2021.
From Wikipedia’s article on PSA Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4