GM Keeps Opel...

[GRG55]

Rumours out that Government Motors is going to keep the Opel division after all.

Deflationista's note...never underestimate the ability of the government to get anything to fly...even pigs.

Magna, labour at GM's Opel agree cost cuts

FRANKFURT, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Opel's labour force has agreed to contribute 265 million euros ($390 million) in annual savings if General Motors [GM.UL] finally sells a majority stake in its European arm to a group led by Canada's Magna (MGa.TO)...

...GM Chief Executive Frederick "Fritz" Henderson has expressed confidence that a sale will go ahead soon, but the new board that oversees GM since its emergence from bankruptcy in July has refused to act as a rubber stamp for management desires.

A source told Reuters last month that there was still a possibility that GM's board could opt out of a sale of Opel in favour of keeping the European carmaker...

[Fiat Currency]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

Deflationista's note...never underestimate the ability of the government to get anything to fly...even pigs.

Frank must be fuming :mad:

[goadam1]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

Frank must be fuming :mad:

We need to stop acting surprised.

[GRG55]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

Rumours out that Government Motors is going to keep the Opel division after all.

Deflationista's note...never underestimate the ability of the government to get anything to fly...even pigs.

Magna, labour at GM's Opel agree cost cuts

FRANKFURT, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Opel's labour force has agreed to contribute 265 million euros ($390 million) in annual savings if General Motors [GM.UL] finally sells a majority stake in its European arm to a group led by Canada's Magna (MGa.TO)...

...GM Chief Executive Frederick "Fritz" Henderson has expressed confidence that a sale will go ahead soon, but the new board that oversees GM since its emergence from bankruptcy in July has refused to act as a rubber stamp for management desires.

A source told Reuters last month that there was still a possibility that GM's board could opt out of a sale of Opel in favour of keeping the European carmaker...

Here's the bulletin confirming the GM Board decision:

GM board opts to keep Opel

Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:41pm EST

DETROIT/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The board of General Motors Co has opted to keep Opel, undoing months of painstaking negotiations to sell the European unit to a Russian-backed group led by Canada's Magna.

GM confirmed the decision made by its 13-member board after a meeting of directors on Tuesday in Detroit, saying that improving business conditions and the strategic importance of Opel to its operations had prompted the decision.

"GM will soon present its restructuring plan to Germany and other governments and hopes for its favorable consideration," GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a statement.

GM said it expected that restructuring Opel on its own would cost about 3 billion euros...

[Fiat Currency]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

We need to stop acting surprised.

I'm not surprised.

frank stronach.jpg

‘Life goes on,' Frank Stronach says after GM board opts to keep European unit

What else can he say ... GM is still his largest customer. His face says it all though.

[GRG55]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

I'm not surprised.

What else can he say ... GM is still his largest customer. His face says it all though.

Well for every Frank that's fuming, there's another that's smiling [note the date of this announcement - goadam1 is correct, we shouldn't be surprised ]...

GM’s Chevy Volt Chief Weber Leaving for Leadership Post at Opel

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt chief Frank Weber is leaving the automaker Dec. 1 to take a senior leadership post with Opel, where he previously developed sedans for the German brand GM is trying to sell.

Weber, 43, has been the global vehicle line executive and chief vehicle engineer for GM’s electric vehicle development program since March 2007...

[Fiat Currency]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt chief Frank Weber is leaving the automaker Dec. 1 to take a senior leadership post with Opel

That probably says more about the future of the Volt than anything else

[Fiat Currency]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

Well for every Frank that's fuming, there's another that's smiling

Apparantly Frank isn't the only one fuming ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle1350559/

Unions, Germany, Russia fume over Opel

Workers call for stoppages; German Economy Minister says GM behaviour ‘totally unacceptable'; Putin weighs in

Melissa Eddy
Berlin — The Associated Press Published on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 4:52AM EST Last updated on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 10:00AM EST

Germany's politicians fumed with anger and Opel workers cancelled cost concessions and readied walkouts after General Motors Co. cancelled the sale of its European subsidiary to parts maker Magna International (MG.A-T46.283.287.63%) and Russian bank Sberbank.

Klaus Franz, Adam Opel GmbH's top employee representative, called it a “black day” and said workers would start brief work stoppages Thursday
...

[c1ue]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

Looks like the fuming workers were right...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...676860,00.html

General Motors Europe on Tuesday finally announced the details of its plan to restructure German car-maker Opel. In addition to thousands of job cuts, GM wants 2.7 billion euros from European governments. Opposition to the plan is building in Germany.
It has been months in the making. But finally on Tuesday, Nick Reilly, head of General Motors Europe, announced the details of his plan to slim down the company's European unit Opel and return it to health. As expected, the radical restructure calls for significant job cuts, considerable salary slashes and extensive aid from European governments.


"We have a plan that we believe will help us rebuild long-term profitability," Reilly told reporters at a press conference in Frankfurt. "We do need more help from European governments."

Specifically, GM is asking for €2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) in loans or loan guarantees from countries where Opel factories are located. Germany would be responsible for coming up with €1.5 billion of that amount, with half coming from the federal government in Berlin and the remaining amount being coughed up by the German states concerned.
In total, some 8,300 jobs are set to be cut across Europe, with 3,900 jobs to be slashed in Germany. While no additional factories are to be closed down -- the closure of Opel's plant in Antwerp, Belgium was announced in January -- the Opel factory in Bochum, Germany will lose 1,800 jobs.
Ball in Europe's Court
According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, Reilly also plans not to replace some 1,000 additional workers set to go into retirement.
Reilly's announcement once again puts the ball in the court of European governments. Last spring, Berlin spent weeks trying to come up with a plan to save Opel when it became clear that its parent company GM was heading for bankruptcy. Finally, a plan was cobbled together which foresaw the carmaker being sold to the Canadian-Austrian auto parts maker Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank. In November, however, GM changed its mind and decided to hang on to Opel.
Whether Berlin, German state governments and other European governments will be eager to come up with cash for Opel remains to be seen. Roland Koch, governor of the state of Hesse, told Dow Jones newswire on Tuesday that he was skeptical of the plan.
"We will take a very close look at the plan presented today from GM," he said. "According to our first impression, it will be necessary for GM, as the owner, to considerably increase its contribution to the restructuring." GM has said it will provide €600 million of the €3.3 billion it says is needed to keep Opel operational.
Outraged Workers
Money from the federal pot may likewise be difficult to access. Assistance for Opel would come from the €115 billion German Economic Fund, put together to help German businesses struggling as a result of the financial crisis. There are, however, a number of criteria that must be fulfilled before companies can access that fund -- one of those being that the company must have been in good economic shape prior to the crisis. It is unclear whether Opel qualifies.
Another key component of the plan likewise looked to be in doubt on Tuesday. Reilly has demanded that labor unions forego €265 million worth of annual pay over the next five years. Unions have refused, unless GM hands the workers a share of the company and grants unions a say in further factory closures and job cuts. Opel workers were already outraged by GM's decision to slash jobs and close down the Antwerp factory. Currently, no further talks between labor and GM are scheduled, according to a report in Die Welt on Tuesday.
Reilly is hoping to return Opel to profitability by 2012, primarily via a complete overhaul of Opel's product line. A slew of new models are to be introduced this year and next with the battery-powered Ampera set for release next year.

[jk]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

if you do the math, $3.7bil, 8300 jobs, that comes out to about $445,000 per job. my guess is that you could give each employee half that and they'd be more than happy to be unemployed.

[GRG55]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

So this is what capitalism has come to?

A multinational company, owned and controlled by the taxpayers of the USA and Canada, and the UAW, is expecting to be subsidized by the taxpayers of Germany and select other European countries.

You couldn't write fiction this crazy...

[c1ue]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

if you do the math, $3.7bil, 8300 jobs, that comes out to about $445,000 per job. my guess is that you could give each employee half that and they'd be more than happy to be unemployed.

My take on it is not so much that the workers are angry over the layoffs, though that is a factor.

My understanding is that they are pissed because GM is clearly unwilling to invest in order to ensure that Opel is one of the survivors of the ongoing capacity slimming. The fact that GM is only willing to cough up $600M or so of (our) money to support Opel is a smoking gun.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: GM Keeps Opel...

So this is what capitalism has come to?

A multinational company, owned and controlled by the taxpayers of the USA and Canada, and the UAW, is expecting to be subsidized by the taxpayers of Germany and select other European countries.

You couldn't write fiction this crazy...

a distillation of ten thousand posts into one