BRUSSELS — Fiat Chrysler Cars and PSA Group gained European Union antitrust approval for his or her $38 billion merger after overcoming regulators’ issues about competitors in Europe’s marketplace for small vans.

The European Fee mentioned PSA will prolong its small van settlement with Toyota by rising capability for Toyota and slicing switch costs for the autos, spare elements and equipment.

“Entry to a aggressive marketplace for small business vans is essential for a lot of self-employed and small and medium firms all through Europe,” European Competitors Commissioner Margrethe Vestager mentioned in a statement on Monday.

FCA and PSA will even enable rivals to entry their restore and upkeep networks for vans to assist new entrants increase out there, the EU competitors enforcer mentioned.

In September, PSA provided to increase production capacity for Toyota at its Sevelnord van manufacturing facility in France to beat issues {that a} merged FCA and PSA would have a mixed market share of 34 p.c for mild business autos in Europe, outgunning Renault and Ford, every with a 16 p.c share, Volkswagen with 12 p.c and Daimler with 10 p.c.

The EU mentioned it was involved that the merger would have seemingly led to larger costs for patrons.

The EU approval overcomes the largest hurdle to the merger, which can create the world’s fourth-largest automaker. It additionally paves the best way for shareholders to vote on the plan at separate conferences scheduled for Jan. 4. Shareholders can be requested to approve the creation of the mixed firm known as Stellantis.

The merged entity would personal manufacturers similar to Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Maserati in addition to Peugeot, Citroen Opel and DS.

“FCA and Groupe PSA warmly welcome the European Fee’s clearance authorizing the merger and the creation of Stellantis, a world chief in new mobility,” the businesses mentioned. “The closing of the merger is predicted to happen by the tip of the primary quarter of 2021.”

FCA’s controlling shareholder is Exor, the holding firm of Italy’s Agnelli household, whereas PSA’s traders are the Peugeot household, the French authorities and China’s Dongfeng.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report