The head of PSA Peugeot Citroën, Carlos Tavares, said today that the cost of electricity in Portugal is 40% higher than in France and said that he will discuss the matter with the Secretary of State for Transport.
'The cost of electricity in Portugal is 40% higher than in France, which is a factor when looking at non-competitiveness. Anything that can be done to improve competitiveness in terms of energy costs will help the automotive industry and also other industries," said Tavares today on a visit to Portugal.
At the meeting with journalists, Carlos Tavares, who this week took over as CEO of PSA Peugeot Cintroën, said that he will discuss this with the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, Sérgio Monteiro, adding that “energy costs for a country like Portugal must be as low as possible."
Another issue he will be addressing will be the country’s logistics and the improvements needed in railway infrastructure to facilitates the flow of automobiles from his factory in Viseu to the Port of Vigo, from where they are exported.
'We could improve our export of cars manufactured in Viseu in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way," said Tavares, highlighting the potential for improving his company’s costs.
"The automotive industry in Portugal only has a future if we can export,” commented Tavares who alluded to the fact that Portugal’s domestic market for vehicles is hardly worth bothering about at 15,000 a year when the global market for new cars in 2020 will exceed 100 million units per year.
To increase exports, 95% of the Viseu factory production in 2013, Tavares advocates increased competitiveness on labour costs, i.e. lower ones.
“At the European level, labour costs in Portugal are reasonably competitive compared to Eastern Europe, but they are more than twice compared to countries like Morocco,” said the head of Peugeot Citroen, forgetting perhaps that Morocco is not in the EU and the labour force is unskilled when compared with our proud Portuguese workers.
