Tata Steel has joined the select group of companies supplying material to PSA Peugeot Citroën to be awarded with Core Supplier status by the French car manufacturer.

Jean-Baptiste Formery, Executive Director - Purchasing Vehicle Components at PSA Peugeot Citroën, made the award at a presentation at Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands last week.

Speaking to employees, Mr Formery said that a Core Supplier needed to display the three key attributes of being champions on their product lines, being internationally established, and achieving excellence in industrial performance. He described Tata Steel as “clearly a very good example of this category of supplier”.

Mr Formery spoke of the importance of suppliers fully participating in every step of the company’s strategy and contributing to its success. He described the ambition of PSA Peugeot Citroën to become a global player, with 50% of its sales outside Europe by 2015. Mr Formery said that PSA’s recent Global Alliance with General Motors represented a real opportunity for growth for strategic and core suppliers.

Responding to Mr Formery, Jaap Piso, Director of Sales & Marketing, Sector Automotive for Tata Steel in Europe, said: “This award is the culmination of more than 30 years of close collaboration and partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën. We are delighted to have been honoured with Core Supplier status in recognition of this mutually beneficial relationship and we look forward to it continuing to benefit both companies for many years to come.

“The ambition of our customer to grow its business globally exactly aligns with our own aims for growth. As Mr Formery has acknowledged, we are already contributing to PSA’s success in France and Spain and are studying our support in the fast developing markets of Russia, Brazil and China. And we are playing our part in improving the environmental credentials of PSA’s car range with steels for light weighting that contribute to reduced CO2 emissions.

“As we move forward, PSA Peugeot Citroën has the full commitment of all Tata Steel employees to continue to meet the high standards expected of companies with Core Supplier status. We feel privileged to be in this select category of suppliers and are excited by the prospect of partnering with our customer as they continue to extend their global reach.”

For further information, contact Bob Jones on +44 (0)207 717 4532 or bob.jones@tatasteel.com

An image of the award ceremony can be found at: www.newscast.com

About Tata Steel in Europe
The European operations of Tata Steel comprise Europe's second largest steel producer. With the main steelmaking operations in the UK and Netherlands, they supply steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, lifting & excavating, energy & power, aerospace and other demanding markets worldwide. The combined Tata Steel Group is one of the world's largest steel producers, with an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 81,000 employees across five continents.

About PSA Peugeot Citroën
With its two world-renowned brands, Peugeot and Citroën, PSA Peugeot Citroën sold 2.9 million vehicles worldwide in 2012, of which 38% were outside Europe. The second largest carmaker in Europe, PSA Peugeot Citroën recorded sales and revenue of €55.4 billion in 2012. The Group is the European leader in terms of CO2 emissions, with an average of 122.5 grams of CO2/km in 2012.

PSA Peugeot Citroën has sales operations in 160 countries. It is also involved in financing activities (Banque PSA Finance) and automotive equipment (Faurecia).

For more information, please visit www.psa-peugeot-citroen.com