General Motors is to transfer the majority of its logistics business in Europe to Gefco, the PSA Peugeot Citroen subsidiary, as the first step in its global alliance with the French car manufacturer.
The deal, which takes effect next year, represents one of the largest ever logistics agreements in the European motor industry.
It covers the majority of the Opel/Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Cadillac logistics activities in Europe (including Russia) and includes services such as material and component deliveries to manufacturing plants, delivery of finished vehicles to dealerships and the transport of aftersales spare parts to distribution centres.
GM said the benefit would come both through the opportunity to make cost savings and to focus its internal resources more on the core automotive business.
General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen announced a broad-scale global strategic alliance on 29th February, saying it would leverage the combined strengths and capabilities of the two companies.
[asset_ref id=”1713″] Chevrolet Camaro
GM vice-chairman Steve Girsky said: “This marks the first step in realising benefits from the larger alliance with PSA. This logistics agreement will bring operational efficiency and costs savings to GM and allow us fully to use the proven expertise of Gefco.”
And Philippe Varin, chairman of the managing board of PSA Peugeot Citroen, said the agreement would enable Gefco to continue its strategy of broadening its existing client base and growing its global business operations.
In Janauary Chevrolet hired Gefco to distribute its vehicles including Cadillacs, Corvettes and Camaros to some 33 dealerships across the UK.
And, in February, PSA Peugeot Citroen announced plans to sell a stake in its logistics business, Gefco, as part of an asset disposal programme to raise 1.5 billion euros.
