A few weeks ago the automotive world was all a-flutter with the news that, as part of the first step toward finding ways to solve its financial problems in Europe, General Motors was taking a 7 percent stake in France’s Peugeot Citroen. Not mentioned in those stories is that competitors in the auto industry have been doing joint ventures for decades, but so far these very expensive plans have failed to yield much of value. More to the point, however, although it’s been the joint venture leader over the past 17 years, all GM has to show for it is the Duramax diesel engine.
To be fair, GM’s Opel in Europe has not managed to turn a profit in over a decade. Yet even in the recent discussions on the new venture with Peugeot, apparently not one automotive journalist has remembered what happened to Opel all those years ago that made it a less competitive car company in Europe.