FRANKFURT — It was telling that the first question Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of the French carmaker PSA Groupe, faced during a news conference at Opel headquarters on Thursday was whether he was arrogant.

Mr. Tavares, whose company acquired Opel and its Vauxhall brand from General Motors earlier this year, had just brashly claimed that he would be able to succeed at the task that has confounded generations of G.M. managers — making a profit at Opel.

He seemed unfazed by the implication that he was rather full of himself to think he could revive Opel and its Vauxhall brand when so many others had failed. Opel has not made an annual profit since at least 1999, the company said, and during that time it racked up losses of $19 billion.

“This perception that you may have, which of course is not my intention,” he told reporters in Rüsselsheim, Germany, near Frankfurt, “comes from the fact that we are passionate about fixing this significant problem.”