As head of the PSA Group, which comprises Citroën, DS, Peugeot and Vauxhall/Opel, Carlos Tavares is one of the most powerful figures in the car industry.
Tavares also serves as chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), so his views on a variety of issues have a major impact on the industry.
Autocar caught up with Tavares on a range of topics, including PSA’s recent restructure, Vauxhall’s turnaround and his thoughts on new, tougher European Union CO2 targets.
There are reports you need to cut 100,000 jobs because of the cost of meeting emission regulations. Is that true?
“This is fake news. But more than 20,000 jobs have been shed over the past three months [across the European car industry].
“Electromobility is costly. When we’re faced with significant cost, it leads to increased prices and clean emissions become elitist. We either sell fewer cars or get fined [for missing EU emission targets]. So we have to restructure, or sell at a loss to hit the EU targets.”
Why are low-emission cars so expensive?
“The cost of batteries is not competitive. If you push the supply of batteries to Asia, the price goes up. The [EU] rules should coincide with the introduction of a European battery maker. It’s not coordinated or planned strategically. Where is the charging network investment? It’s not a 360deg approach and there’s a lack of rigorous planning. This is serious stuff – the EVs are there and for sale. These are €30,000 (£26,000) vehicles, and there’s no decent charging network. This problem is not all about the car makers.”
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FORD are closing down this month with the loss of over 600 jobs. Reason, who the heck is going to buy an expensive poor quality 10 year olf design without any kit at prices which do not reflect the competition and even worse a guarantee of 2 years !!!
Maybe the death knell for Ford PSA would be a good partner - they have loads of rubbish already lol. If Ghosen wasnt in jail he would already be on the board and adding some filthy to his pockets and get For Nissan Renault and Mitsubishi under one banner.
Bye Bye FORD
Oh in case you are wondering what competion for the Focus
Hald a dozen Hyundai and Kia models
Skoda
and Lada ( dont laugh.. they are coming up strong with models like the new XRay)
Cheaper longer gtee 3 times as much kit and new designs, and better quality all round
How can he be happy with DS?
40k DS7's worldwide in nearly 18 months is not great for £28k+ car. Other than there's the failing DS4, DS5 that sell in the hundreds and the DS3 that's cheap and been around 9 years old.
They should have made the DS brand electric from the ground up but they're haven't got the experience so they'll just convert old ICE models. Not the way to do it!
xxxx wrote:
They no longer sell the DS4 or DS5.
They just now have the, as you say - 9 year old and aging, DS3, a DS3 SUV and the DS7 SUV. Not a particularly inspiring range.
WallMeerkat wrote:
Still selling the DS4 and DS5 in mainland Europe at least. But like I said you can measure them in the hundreds
xxxx wrote:
No, they simply just shouldnt have bothered creating the DS brand.