PSA Announces Car-Making Joint Venture in Namibia

PSA Group and the government of Namibia sign an investment agreement facilitating the joint venture between the French automaker and the Namibia Development Corp. to assemble Opel and Peugeot vehicles in the southwest African country.

The JV is to launch in second-half 2018 at a facility in Walvis Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. Annual volume is targeted at 5,000 units, with the initial products being the Opel Grandland X and Peugeot 3008.

Other products will follow to meet consumer demand in the five countries comprising the South African Custom Union.

The agreement is part of PSA’s “Push to Pass” growth strategy that aims to satisfy customer expectations in all the regions in which the automaker operates.

Part of that plan calls for directly producing within the Middle East and Africa 70% of the vehicles sold in those regions.

The announcement also comes less than four months after Opel announced a separate strategy called Pace, which aims to make the former General Motors subsidiary and its Vauxhall sister brand profitable by 2020.