WI: French Automakers stay in the US

PauL62

PauL62

The French Automakers marketed their vehicles in the US from the 1960s until 1991, when the last automaker withdrew from the market. Renault sold its AMC subsidiary to Chrysler in '87, Citroën withdrew in 1974 in order not to overshadow Peugeot, and Peugeot withdrew in '91, for lack of a good marketing strategy and suitable products. , and especially the raging Japanese competition, not to mention the demands of the US market. According to you, what would have been the assets, or the PoDs necessary for French Automakers to stay in the US for a long time, or even come back successfully, or even break through there? We can already have as a PoD Renault remaining in the US by keeping AMC, or by returning to it by buying Saturn, but what would have been the necessary strategy for the latter and even for Peugeot-Citroën in order to stay on the US market? Thoughts?

PS: Note that I already made a thread about a possible takeover of Chrysler by Peugeot in 2009 too, one year ago, as well as a thread of French luxury automakers surviving after the war, which could themselves remain in the US.
 
Last edited:

RyoSaeba69

Banned
Well, for a start, there was a law passed in 1946 that shamelessly screwed powerful cars and pushed for small ones: 4CV, 4L, 2CV prospered. Bugatti died.
Fast forward to the 70's, french automakers were rocked by many crisis. Citroen had a megalomaniac, authoritarian boss that invested like a brainless dummy: wankel engines, and helicopters, and buying Maserati (yes, read again: Citroen bought Maserati) to get a V6 for the SM. He bet everything on the DS, except that one grew older and its replacement was tricky. Citroen list of models was in shambles.
End result: they nearly went under.
By 1974 Peugeot had to take them over - order of the french government.
Then in 1977 Chrysler threw away their european (GB Sunbeam, France, Spain) branches, which in france was Simca, the fourth automaker in numbers.
And Peugeot had to take over that one, too ! order of the french government.
So Peugeot was a private company, but it nearly killed itself digesting Citroen and Simca.
While Renault was public company and... well, it was 1970's France, followed by Miterrand's France from 1981. Better not to think about it. But Renault was nearly bankrupt, too, in a very bad shape.

(funnily enough, my father had a Simca circa 1975 when he married my mother. And Simca, set in Poissy, half between Paris and Normandy, employed a very diverse manpower from all over the world and France history: africans, arabs, people from overseas territories like La Réunion... my stepfather included. So my stepfather may have assembled my father Simca in 1975, 30 years before i met my girlfriend ! )
 
Last edited:

NOMISYRRUC

RyoSaeba69 said:
Well, for a start, there was a law passed in 1946 that shamelessly screwed powerful cars and pushed for small ones: 4CV, 4L, 2CV prospered. Bugatti died.
Fast forward to the 70's, French automakers were rocked by many crisis. Citroen had a megalomaniac, authoritarian boss that invested like a brainless dummy: wankel engines, and helicopters, and buying Maserati (yes, read again: Citroen bought Maserati) to get a V6 for the SM. He bet everything on the DS, except that one grew older and its replacement was tricky. Citroen list of models was in shambles.
End result: they nearly went under.
By 1974 Peugeot had to take them over - order of the French government.
Then in 1977 Chrysler threw away their European (GB Sunbeam, France, Spain) branches, which in France was Simca, the fourth automaker in numbers.
And Peugeot had to take over that one, too ! order of the French government.
So Peugeot was a private company, but it nearly killed itself digesting Citroen and Simca.
While Renault was public company and... well, it was 1970's France, followed by Miterrand's France from 1981. Better not to think about it. But Renault was nearly bankrupt, too, in a very bad shape.

(funnily enough, my father had a Simca circa 1975 when he married my mother. And Simca, set in Poissy, half between Paris and Normandy, employed a very diverse manpower from all over the world and France history: Africans, Arabs, people from overseas territories like La Réunion... my stepfather included. So my stepfather may have assembled my father Simca in 1975, 30 years before I met my girlfriend ! )
Click to expand...
That's disturbing to similar to what was going on the other side of the Chaîne Anglaise. Were the labour relations in the French auto industry of the 1970s as awful as the UK's?
 

Coiler

durante said:
Build a manufacturing facility in Québec before NAFTA goes into effect
Click to expand...
Didn't work for Hyundai, with them having to quickly close their Bromont plant for lack of demand.

(Yes, that's early Hyundai, but the point is clear. If people don't want the cars, it doesn't matter where you build them)
 
durante

durante

Bongani The Mediocre said:
Would that still force ATL French carmakers to go Mexico or Bust ten years into NAFTA?
I can't see how Quebec or Canadian factories keep pace with Mexico or American South facilities by New Tens.
Click to expand...
IOTL Canada's production increased due to NAFTA. Canada surpassed France in auto production in 2011 and hasnt looked back since.

There is also likely to be a stronger market for French makes in Québec and Canada.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top