THE BOARD of European carmaker Opel met yesterday under pressure from US parent General Motors to put an end to years of steep losses, with thousands of workers in Germany and Britain fearing the closure of their plants.

Company sources said prior to the meeting that it was not clear whether management would go ahead with submitting a mid-term business plan that includes plant closures, or focus on less sensitive issues such as the appointment of a new sales chief. One source close to the board said plant closures would be the elephant in the room even if they were not discussed.

GM chief executive Dan Akerson and Opel chairman Steve Girsky are pushing Opel chief executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke to lower the company’s breakeven point by shifting production from high-wage countries in western Europe to emerging markets.

Though Opel has said no plants will go before the end of 2014, most expect the 50-year old factory at Bochum in western Germany will be earmarked for closure, along with one at Ellesmere Port, the company’s only remaining car plant in the UK, where the brand is known as Vauxhall.– (Reuters)