PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares says that the car giant is on track to rebound strongly from the coronavirus pandemic in the second half of 2020, after posting a profit in the first six months.

The French firm, whose brands include Citroen, DS, Peugeot and Opel/Vaxuhall, was hit by disruption and lockdowns. Its global sales of 1,033,000 units from January to June 2020 were down 45.7% from the 1,903,000 vehicles sold in the same period last year.

Despite that, PSA still posted a profit of 595 million euros (Rs 4,918 crore) for the first half of 2020, although that was sharply down on the 1.83 billion euros (Rs 151,281 crore) profit for the same period of 2019.

Tavares said: “This result proves the Group’s resilience, as a reward of six consecutive years of intense work to increase our agility and lower our breakeven point. The Group is also weathering this crisis thanks to the commitment of the teams, focused to deliver a clean, safe and affordable mobility for our customers.”

The PSA profit result is stronger than those of some rival firms, which financial analysts partly attributed to Tavares-led efforts to reduce production costs. Tavares also said that, following the lifting of lockdown restrictions in Europen sales in June and July, showed the firm was on track for a strong rebound, with orders books in an “excellent” position.

Tavares also reiterated that PSA’s merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – creating a new company named Stellantis – is on course to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

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