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FCA and PSA merged to save cash. Earlier this year, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group finalized their merger, creating Stellantis. The two joined forces in an effort to cut costs while also creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker. The new conglomerate has promised not to cut jobs or close plants, but those savings have to come from somewhere, and Stellantis is looking everywhere, including the toilets. Reuters is reporting that in Italy, Stellantis is cutting cleaning services and the number of toilets available at some of its factories. At the company’s Mirafiori factory in Turin, Italy, where the new Fiat 500 is being produced, Stellantis has reduced the number of available toilets and cut cleaning services, FMI union member Davide Provenzano told the publication. The company has also reduced temperatures and reorganized transport facilities. Provenzano voiced concerns about such cost-cutting measures during the coronavirus pandemic. Similar cutbacks have happened at the company’s Atessa plant, where the UILM union noted there’d been a 35-percent cut in cleaning services, though that excluded services for disinfecting against the coronavirus. The number of toilets there were left unchanged, though the company is operating at near full capacity. FOIM union member Edi Lazzi told Reuters that he believed the cost-cutting measures were coming from local management. The merger has given Stellantis a monumental task managing more than a dozen brands, some of which now overlap each other in some markets. The merger has already seen the company cancel plans to return Peugeot back to US shores, which began in 2017. Instead, the company will focus on revitalizing the Alfa Romeo brand in the US. Chrysler will also get renewed focus. Other changes have seen Stellantis disband the SRT team, though there will be future SRT models.

Renault plans to cut 7,500 jobs in France by 2016 as a result of declining sales in Europe. This represents 17 percent of its current workforce in the country. The company would achieve its target mainly by not replacing retiring workers and by offering early retirement. The French carmaker's sales in Europe sank 19% between January to November 2012, which is the steepest among major car manufacturers in the region. The plan would save Renault 400 million euros a year in annual fixed cost, which is required to lower its break-even point. Despite the reduction in workforce, CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that no plants in France will be closed. Year 2012 is tough but 2013 is not expected to be smooth riding either. Carlos said at the Detroit Motor Show that he expects the European market to be "difficult" in 2013, predicting that car sales would fall about 3%, after contracting 8 % in 2012. Renault's action adds further woes to France's ailing industrial sector.

[extract] The Eurozone debt crisis seemed to have taken its toll on the sales of PSA Peugeot-Citroen. The Group

Opel, the struggling European arm of General Motors Co , took a key step towards returning the brand to long-term profitability after its supervisory board voted in favor of a midterm business plan that included "massive" investments in its model range. The plan also envisages cost cuts, new models and efforts to win new export sales. "The plan approved today paves the way for a strong future for Opel. GM stands behind Opel and supports management and labor," said GM Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky in a statement. The company has previously said it is working on plans that provide guaranteed jobs for German workers until 2016 in return for postponing pay increases, and the expectation that the plant in Bochum will close after that. The company commented that it has plans to move into market segments where it has not been represented before, and expand sales in emerging markets. It also expects added savings from its alliance with France's Peugeot Citroen. Opel

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[extract] Chief designer-group interior of VW