Ex-Airbus boss named new CEO at PSA/Peugeot-Citroen
PARIS (Reuters) -- PSA/Peugeot-Citroen today named former Airbus
head Christian Streiff as its new CEO.
He will take up his post officially on Feb. 6, but will start to
work at PSA/Peugeot-Citroen on Wednesday, Nov. 8, and will spend the
next few months meeting the teams and employees to get to know the
group.
Current CEO Jean-Martin Folz said in September he planned to take
early retirement at the beginning of 2007.
Battled-hardened executive
Streiff is jumping into the driving seat at a time when Europe's
second-largest carmaker is battling falling sales in main west
European markets.
Streiff, 52, is no stranger to challenges and boardroom battles.
The amateur pilot and keen mountain hiker resigned from European
aircraft maker Airbus last month after 100 days in the job, after
losing a battle over the style of radical reforms he proposed to
resolve delays to the A380 superjumbo airplane.
Streiff's position had become untenable after he exposed deep flaws
in Airbus's industrial methods and raised the prospect of sensitive
job cuts without adequate political cover, industry sources said at
the time.
But new Airbus top management is implementing the Power8 plan
Streiff drew up, albeit with more political consultation and closer
supervisory board involvement at parent EADS.
Streiff also lost a boardroom battle at glassmaker Saint Gobain last
year.
Considered the "dauphin" or chosen successor to the head of the
company, Streiff was pushed out in May 2005 after failing to please
his boss.
Streiff comes on board as PSA/Peugeot-Citroen is battling with
declining sales in its main western European markets and aims to
accelerate sales in east Europe and China after four profit warnings
in five quarters.
In July, Peugeot shares fell sharply after the firm missed its
operating margin target for the first half of 2006 and reduced its
second-half outlook on higher raw material prices.
Two-months ago, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen announced new cost-savings
measures including a reduction on the capital expenditure budget to
$3.20 billion (2.5 billion euros), from about $3.84 billion (3.0
billion euros).
PSA/Peugeot-Citroen said it would renew the core range of its models
in Europe more frequently, to reduce the average age to 3.3 years by
2008 from 4.5 years at the end of 2005.
It will also launch six new body styles until 2009.
The Peugeot family has a combined stake of 30 percent in PSA/Peugeot-
while staff and the company itself combined hold another 5
percent. Societe Generale has a 3.3 percent stake and BNP Paribas
owns 1.1 percent.
Streiff is bilingual in French and German, having worked for 15
years on behalf of Saint Gobain in Germany.
Published author
Streiff was born on Sept. 21, 1954, in Sarrebourg in northeast
France near the German border and was educated at the French Mines
School, an elite academy for engineers and breeding ground for many
captains of industry in France.
Married to a school teacher with three children, Streiff published a
novel in 1999. Called "Kriegspiel" (War Game), the book in French is
about how a director of a textile firm in east Germany wants to
merge with a French group after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"The two men build a deep and complex friendship. But the laws of
business and the game of personal ambitions put paid to their
dream," the book's cover text says.
-Automotive News
Mike Tippett
Peugeot 404 Coupé Injection
405 DL
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Received on Tue Nov 7 12:31:25 2006
