The president of the French consortium accompanied his Majesties the Kings of Spain on his visit to the plant he has in Figueruelas (Zaragoza).

The executive president of Grupo PSA, Carlos Tavares, has hosted the King of Spain as his host, while visiting the Figueruelas (Zaragoza) plant of the Gallo group. The reason for the visit was to kick off the manufacturing of the new generation of the Opel Corsa, which will have a 100% electric version.

The French group has invested 250 million in the factory maña and the line is already prepared to manufacture 1,000 units of the Corsa per day.

Carlos Tavares was especially critical, as it usually is, with the decisions of governments and of the European Union in matters of emissions. “We have the technology, personnel and investment to make zero emission vehicles.

We have just launched the Opel Corsa e, the Peugeot 208 e or the DS3 eTense. The key is the speed of the energy transition and people must understand that electromobility is more expensive than internal combustion mobility. Politicians have not told people that electromobility is more expensive. People will not buy electric vehicles if they do not see charging points. You don’t buy a cell phone if you don’t have a place to charge it. ”

Tavares was clear in saying that there are two currents in terms of the speed at which this energy transition must be executed “because we are worried about the planet but also about our employees.” They are “dogmatism and pragmatism. And the Spanish Government has been too dogmatic in Brussels about electromobility.”

“The Spanish Government, the French and the Italian, voted in October 2018 in favor of the drastic reduction of emissions in 2030 [the average range of vehicles of a brand must be below 65 grams of CO2 per kilometer] . These three countries together are the largest producers of vehicles in Europe. ”

“We are going to provide zero emissions vehicles to the customer, but they have to know that they are more expensive,” Tavares said.

He also insisted that states in Europe must bet on recharge infrastructure. “It will involve a very high amount of investment.” And he recalled that if the recharge infrastructure is to be done by energy operators

“there will be an upward pressure on the upward price of electricity” because the recharging of electric vehicles at public points is not going to be free.

Spanish plants

“We are the number one manufacturer in Spain and we have a 22% share and we hope to continue in progression,” said Tavares. The PSA Group has in Spain the factories of Figueruelas, Vigo and Madrid. But within the famous Iberian Pole there is also Mangualde (northern Portugal), a satellite plant in Vigo.

“The three Spanish plants are making progress in the same plan in terms of cost reduction. In Zaragoza, I have to congratulate the workers because they are progressing towards the profitability values ​​we want. Mangualde is more efficient and the Khenitra plant in Morocco is even more so. The factories of Vigo, Madrid and Zaragoza should not be afraid of Mangualde, but of Morocco, but what our workers have to do is copy and paste Mangualde’s best practices. ”

Expansion Oct 7 2019 – 12:45 (Tranlation Soft)