Christian Müller appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering for the Groupe PSA

• Christian Müller, current Opel R&D chief, succeeds Alain Raposo at Groupe PSA level with the same responsibilities
• Marcus Lott to follow Christian Müller as Vice President Opel/Vauxhall Engineering

Christian Müller

Christian Müller, currently Managing Director Engineering Opel Automobile GmbH has been appointed new Head of Powertrain & Chassis Engineering of Groupe PSA effective August 1. He will report to Nicolas Morel, EVP Research & Development. He will succeed Alain Raposo who has served in this position since May 2018. Alain Raposo has chosen to leave Groupe PSA voluntarily at the end of August 2020 in order to pursue a personal project.

Marcus Lott, Vice President Body in White, Equipment & Materials Engineering and an Opel/Vauxhall engineer since 1994, will become the new head for R&D of the German and British brands and member of the Managing Board of Opel Automobile GmbH effective August 1.

Nicolas Morel, Executive Vice President Research & Development of Groupe PSA said: “I am delighted to work even closer with Christian Müller who is a leading and recognized powertrain expert in the automotive industry. And I congratulate Marcus Lott on his new position. With his many years of engineering experience, he will make a decisive contribution to successfully developing further the Opel/Vauxhall brands and the group’s Engineering Center in Rüsselsheim. These management decisions clearly demonstrate how closely integrated our engineering teams work together. German Engineering competence will continue to play a key role in the Groupe PSA.”

Michael Lohscheller, member of Groupe PSA Managing Board and CEO of Opel/Vauxhall added: “German Engineering is at the heart of Opel. As head of Opel R&D, Christian played a key role in making this visible and tangible for our customers in all of our models, like the current Corsa and future Mokka, which are also available in electric versions. I am delighted that with Marcus Lott we have appointed a highly experienced and recognized engineer as his successor. Marcus has known our company, models and people for almost 30 years now.”

Christian Müller has been Managing Director Engineering of Opel Automobile GmbH since August 1, 2017. Prior to this assignment, he held the position of Vice President GM Global Propulsion Systems – Europe. Christian Müller was born in Rüsselsheim, Germany in 1969 and received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Darmstadt University.

Marcus Lott has been Vice President Body in White, Equipment & Materials Engineering since January this year. Before this assignment, he was Vice President Programs & Strategy of Opel/Vauxhall. Furthermore, he led the development of various vehicles in North America, South America, Asia and Europe as a chief engineer. Marcus Lott was born in Mainz, Germany in 1968 and holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering/Automotive Technology from RWTH Aachen.

Groupe PSA’s Turbo PureTech petrol engine named International Engine of the Year for the 4th year in a row

Today, the Turbo PureTech 3-cylinder petrol engine (110 hp and 130 hp) was named International Engine of the Year in the 1-litre to 1.4-litre category, for the 4^th year in a row, by the panel of the 20^th International Engine of the Year Awards in Stuttgart.

Groupe PSA has filed 210 patents for its family of 3-cylinder petrol engines. The new‑generation PureTech engine offers improved performance, fuel consumption and efficiency, with specific benefits including:

• a 4% improvement in fuel consumption on average compared with the previous generation;
• improved engine response time thanks to an optimised turbocharger (20% faster increase in torque from 1500 rpm);
• a 75% reduction in particulate emissions through the use of a gasoline particulate filter (GPF), meeting the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) conformity factor of 1.5 set by EU regulations for 2020, three years in advance;
• a more compact structure, to adapt to the new Common Modular Platform (CMP) dedicated to small city cars, core sedans and compact SUVs.

Launched in 2017 on the new Peugeot 308, the new generation is now being deployed on Groupe PSA’s vehicles across some hundred applications in more than 70 countries. The engines comply with Euro 6d-TEMP and China 6b standards.

The PureTech 3-cylinder engine is currently manufactured in France (Française de Mécanique plants in Douvrin, Pas-de-Calais and Trémery, Moselle) and China (Xiang Yang plant). In addition to production capacity being doubled in the French plants in 2018, the plants in Tychy, Poland, and Szentgotthárd, Hungary, will also start producing the PureTech engine in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

On this occasion, Alain Raposo, Senior Vice President, Powertrain and Chassis Engineering at Groupe PSA, said: “We’re proud to receive this prestigious award for the fourth year in a row, as proof of the skills of our development teams. Most of our vehicles are now equipped with this engine, which has been highly successful among our customers. This award is a global recognition of the competitiveness and efficiency of our petrol range, and in particular our PureTech 3-cylinder engine.”