, Columnist
First the World Cup, Now Cars. France Is on a Roll
Peugeot is motoring, but it’s been helped by some pretty favorable accounting.
Who’s Germany?
Photographer: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
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French carmakers are inferior to the Germans. You can’t make decent money in the mass market. With a looming trade war, regulatory uncertainty and technological upheaval, the traditional autos giants are doomed.
For a pretty emphatic riposte to all of those industry assumptions, look no further than the 2.6 billion euros ($3 billion) of free cash flow generated by Peugeot SA in the first six months of this year.