Recently, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Fiat announced that their partnership will not be renewed past the 2017 end date. The partnership, though slight, produced three midsized vans: the Fiat Scudo, Citroen Jumpy and the Peugeot Expert. All three of these vehicles are being built-in Sevel Nord plant near Valenciennes, France but after 2017, they will be no more.
“The 2017 deadline is far away enough for us to work on preparing the evolution of the plant’s operations,” said Denis Martin, member of the board, head of Industrial Operations for PSA Peugeot Citroen. The PSA press release mentioned the split was due to “diverging product strategies” and that makes one think: could Fiat’s recent investment into Chrysler have something to do with this?
It seems that Fiat now has a lot on its plate and a partnership with PSA might just be a little too much. Fiat is becoming a rather large company and now has a market in America with their partnership with Chrysler. They are also beginning to import the American vehicles across the ocean and are responsible for segments such as Jeep Europe. Even though the PSA press release never mentioned it, it could be safe to assume that Fiat might be wanting to concentrate on its new-found opening via Chrysler group. With the American market 500 hitting the streets as we speak and talks of there being Fiat marked full-bodied Chryslers in Europe, a joint partnership with PSA to produce three minivans might just be not worth it. Granted, 2017 is a long ways away.
