In Europe,
Fiat S.p.A. and
PSA Peugeot Citroën began a 50/50
joint venture in 1978 under the name of "
Sevel" (an acronym of "Société Européenne de Véhicules Légers" or "Società Europea Veicoli Leggeri"). Two factories, Sevel Sud in Italy and Sevel Nord in France, still produce commercials and MPVs. The Argentine manufacturers of Peugeots (
SAFRAR,
Sociedad Anónima Franco Argentina de Automotores CIF) and Fiats (
Fiat Concord S.A.) then merged in 1981. The new company formed was also called Sevel, but here the versatile acronym stood for "Sociedad Europea de Vehículos para Latinoamérica" (
European Company for making Vehicles for Latin America). At first, Sevel resumed production of models previously made by Fiat Concord (
125,
128) and SAFRAR (
404,
504) but the company soon added new models such as
Peugeot 505 (1981), and
Fiat 147 (1982). The company proposed to reduce production of automobiles to 30,000 per year, which caused the closure of two out of five assembly plants in Argentina, and the suspension of 15,000 employees.),
Uno,
Duna were added, as well as the
Chevrolet C-10 pickup produced under license from
General Motors. vans, and heavy vehicles were to be built in Fiat's factory in Ferreyra,
Córdoba province. Peugeot's
Berazategui (in
Greater Buenos Aires) factory was decommissioned and production transferred to El Palomar, but increasing market demand in 1993 meant this plant was reopened. The local auto industry was hit hard, however, by the
Mexican peso crisis. A fall in sales to 130,000 led the company to divest itself of the Fiat licence in 1996, and Sevel revenues fell by nearly half, to US$1.1 billion. In 1998, Grupo SOCMA sold its block of shares to
PSA Group which took over production of Peugeot and Citroën vehicles under the name of "Peugeot-Citroën de Argentina". Following Sevel's liquidation, Macri was convicted of
customs duty evasion relating to an auto export-import scheme via neighboring
Uruguay. == Sevel Uruguay ==