GM chief executive in Germany to discuss the future of Opel after sale plan scrapped

Published on Monday 9 November 2009 20:46

FRITZ Henderson, the chief executive of General Motors, met leaders of its Opel unit yesterday to discuss the future of the carmaker's European subsidiary.

The talks came a week after GM said it expected to axe about 10,000 jobs across Europe in its restructuring of Vauxhall and Opel. It followed the announcement that the car giant had scrapped plans to sell the brands to Canadian car parts firm Magna.

The announcement not to sell was followed by GM confirming that its European boss, Carl-Peter Forster, would leave the company.

Sources close to the firm said Henderson wanted to get a first-hand look at the situation at Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim, just west of Frankfurt.

Opel employees and the German government are especially anxious to hear what GM's plans are for the company. General Motors employs about 50,000 people in Europe, the bulk of whom are in Germany.

The German government had backed the Magna plan financially because it proposed the fewest job cuts.

German economics minister Rainer Bruederle said that it was uncertain whether GM could deliver a sustainable concept for the European operations in the short term.

"I'm also very sceptical whether the company, which handled this so badly, has new ideas overnight," he added.

Bruederle also said there was no guarantee that GM would get any help from the German government for its restructuring.

It has been reported that Forster would become the chief executive of Tata Motors of India after leaving GM. Debasis Ray, a spokesman for Tata, declined to confirm or deny this, saying only that "Tata does not comment on speculation".