 "Raindrops cover the logo of French car manufacturer Peugeot on a automobile seen in Nantes, France, July 20, 2017")
Peugeot maker PSA Group and Japan's Nidec Corp will invest 200 million euros ($237 million) in a joint venture to develop and produce electric car motors for a fast expanding market, the companies said on Monday.
Patrice Lucas, PSA's executive vice president for strategy, said in a presentation the France-based venture would have a production capacity of 900,000 motors per year from 2022.
The market for electric automobile motors is expected to double to 45 billion euros ($53 billion) over the next two decades, the companies said in a joint statement, as the industry undergoes profound change, with consumers increasingly demanding alternatives to combustion engines.
The electric motors developed with Nidec will supply all Opel and Vauxhall models, Lucas said. Nidec will act via Nidec Leroy-Somer, the French electric motor company it acquired in February this year.
The aim of the joint venture is to make high-performance "electric traction motors" for PSA Group and potentially other carmakers, the companies said.
Nidec manufactures motors for products ranging from hard disk drives to elevators and automobiles, and owns the U.S. Motors brand.
The highly acquisitive company, which describes itself as specialising in "everything that spins and moves", has been snapping up companies in anticipation that new automotive technologies will result in a boom in the market.
It announced last week it had bought driveXpert GmbH, which makes electronic control units for automobiles. Earlier this year, it acquired the motor and electric power generation businesses of France's Emerson Electric, and the drive business of Emerson Electric Co of Britain.
As global competition heats up to develop electric cars and automated driving functions, Nidec has said it wants to become a global auto parts supplier rivalling Germany's Robert Bosch and Japan's Denso Corp.
The transaction remains subject to antitrust clearance and consultations with employee representatives. The joint venture's headquarters will be in Carrieres-sous-Poissy near Paris.
