GM increased its stake in Peugeot to 7%

According to Khabarkhodro,United States (US) auto giant General Motors (GM) has increased its stake in French automaker Peugeot above a 5 percent regulatory threshold after subscribing to the French company’s capital increase last month.

Under the agreement, a joint global committee aims to generate some US$2 billion (S$2.5 billion) in savings annually within about five years.

GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson said recently that two jointly developed cars are likely to go on sale by 2016.

Peugeot’s registrations fell 33% in March to 59,290, while local rival Renault suffered a 30% drop to 42,908 cars, with a particularly sharp fall in registrations for its low-cost Dacia brand, down 57%.

 Opel registrations fell 26% to 11,680 cars.

Developing vehicles jointly — if executed properly and across a number of vehicle platforms — could amount to billions in savings beyond the purchasing and development figure.

A typical product program starts at roughly $1 billion and can cost several billion dollars.