It makes you wonder how badly GM were running it. They couldn't make a profit in over a decade but PSA can turn it around in just a few months.

I doubt a new owner could make a real change in such a short time. As someone on the link said, part of the reason might be the writing off of debt by the sale. Also the new owner appears to have slashed dealerships, not sure how much they cost Vauxhall-Opel.

Must be some creative accounting, surely?

Glad to hear that VX is profitable for the first time in decades.

I still have serious doubts about the future of VX cars in the UK.

Will there be platform-sharing or will there be badge-engineering? That is the question!

Edited by Sofa Spud on 26/07/2018 at 16:52

If you buy (for example ) £1Billion worth of assets when you buy a company - the £1B being the book value of them - and only pay (say) £250M - then you have a huge saving in depreciation charges as in your books the FixesdAssets are only worth £250M.

So annual depreciation charges based on a 10 year lifespan fall from £100M a year to £25M a year - a saving of £75M a year.

basiclally Peugeot bought the ebusiness dirt cheap... (and GM have proved they are incompetent,,,)

Who knows what accountancy was going on, GM may have been using Vauxhall as a vehicle (‘scuse the pun) for GM write-downs to protect the owning company, the same way Rover was saddled with enormous debt to build huge manufacturing infrastructure for BMW in the UK - whilst perpetuating the myth of the "English Patient" to justify dumping them - Rover also picked up the tab to develop the (R30?) platform which became Mk2 MINI, BMW 1 series etc. Of course after asset stripping them and detaching all the expensive bits used to intentionally bankrupt Rover – the plant they actually intended to keep all along (Shiny new Oxford production line, Hams Hall engine plant etc.), an empty husk of a company was handed over to the Phoenix chancers - who got the blame – a clever game of theft and deception was played – and still people who call themselves English will buy BMW products by the drove. Even powertrain was taken off Rover who had to pay a royalty to BMW to manufacture the engine they designed!