Peugeot Citroen reportedly ending its 41-year partnership with CDCM; Mansour Group said to be closing in for the rebound : The Peugeot-Citroen arm of Groupe PSA has reportedly decided not to renew its distribution agreement with Cairo For Development and Cars Manufacturing (CDCM), its licensed distributor of Peugeot vehicles in Egypt for the last 41 years, Al Borsa reports. The move had apparently caught CDCM and its parent company, Arabia Investments, Development and Financial Investment Holding Company (AIND), off guard. AIND’s head of investor relations Hisham Ismail tells the newspaper that they are still trying to contact the French car manufacturer as to why it had terminated the contract, adding that the move had indeed been a surprise. Ismail added that AIND “will take legal action to preserve its rights and protect the interests of shareholders.” Other sources at CDCM, speaking anonymously, said the company had just placed orders for more cars.

This comes as Mansour Group representatives had apparently been in talks to become the licensed Peugeot Citroen distributor after parent company Groupe PSA acquired Opel back in March, Mansour officials tell the newspaper. Mansour reportedly faced competition from Al Futtaim, Ezz Al Arab, MTI Group, and others. Sources added that Peugeot Citroen is expected to make an announcement of its decision before the end of the year.

Attacking the proposed Automotive Directive from another angle: The story comes amid complaints by some in the automotive sector that Egypt’s trade liberalization pact with the European Union, which gradually eliminated customs on car imports, has not led to a decrease in prices. (Shocking in a post-float environment, right?) Sticker prices on EU imports have shot up by as much as EGP 100K for some brands, said industry expert Raafat Masrooga, member of the Automotive Marketing Information Council, according to Al Mal. The solution, he says? Don’t grow domestic industry by granting local manufacturers incentives to move up the value chain to manufacturing. Nope. The genius believes the Finance Ministry should simply eliminate customs and tariffs on all car imports. All that’s missing from the story is the bright shiny sticker announcing it was paid for by the nation’s CBU importers.