Peugeot: No plans to sell parts maker Faurecia

Struggling French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said Wednesday that it was not planning to sell its majority stake in car parts manufacturer Faurecia, after recurring speculation of its plans to divest. "The strategy of the group has not changed. Faurecia is a strategic asset that creates value and of which a sale does not figure on the group's planned route," PSA Peugeot Citroen told AFP. The group declined comment on a Tuesday report in financial newspaper Les Echos, which said that PSA's supervisory board has given the nod to managers to continue talks with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng about a potential capital injection into the struggling French firm. "Despite the reticence of some of its members", the supervisory board has "finally given the mandate to the management to pursue negotiations" with Dongfeng, China's second-biggest carmaker, said the report. Dongfeng's General Manager Zhu Fushou had said at the end of October that his company was studying the "rationality of the project". Peugeot, which reported falling sales for the third quarter, is in the throes of a radical restructuring involving deep job cuts and the closure of a factory. It was also rescued last year by means of big state guarantees for its financing and credit arm.