Morin: French Carmakers “Lack Ambition”

Thierry Morin, Valeo SA's CEO from 2000 to 2009, tells Automotive News Europe that PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault are falling behind their foreign rivals because they aren't run by "car guys" with a passion for their products.

Now a consultant, Morin complains that Renault and PSA don't listen enough to their customers because they "are convinced that they know what is best." His comments are in the current print edition of ANE, which focuses on the future of the French auto industry.

The former French auto parts maker bemoans what he calls a "lack of ambition" about product improvement from the French companies. He opines that Japanese and German carmakers are stronger competitors because they are guided by career automotive executives with a relentless desire to produce better cars.

In France, he adds, many people assume that any good manager can be successful in the automotive business. That, he tells ANE, "proved wrong sometimes."

Morin also suggests that PSA's eight-month-old alliance with General Motors Co. is ill-conceived because GM is not an industry leader. "When you do everything right but too late," he declares, "you do it all wrong."

Morin also laments that Renault and PSA ceded the profitable luxury market to rivals by wrongly assuming the only way to meet European carbon dioxide emission standards was with small engines. The result, he says, is that neither company builds high-performance engines for production cars.