THE HEAD of General Motors unit Opel sought to allay workers’ fears that the automaker plans to shut one of its four German plants as it pulls production of the Astra, its best-selling model, from the country.
Opel chief executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke is under pressure from GM to end heavy losses at the US carmaker’s German arm by shifting production to countries with lower labour costs. Mr Stracke told workers in Bochum yesterday that no decision has been made on their plant’s future beyond 2014. State premier Hannelore Kraft who led the Social Democrats to victory in an election this month, had called on him to make a clear statement on his plans.
A decision to close the Bochum plant would be one of the most dramatic so far as Europe’s carmakers look to restructure in response to more than four years of declines in demand and profits. It employs around 3,100 people and has a production capacity of around 160,000 cars a year.
GM, which sells under the Vauxhall brand in Britain, plans to halt production of the Astra at Opel’s main plant in Ruesselsheim, Germany, making the car only in Britain and Poland. – (Reuters)