GM announced it's not selling Opel

[Tomash]

This is big, guys: today (well, technically yesterday) General Motors has announced it's not going to sell Opel (and Vauxhall) to Magna-Spierbank duo!

Selling Opel to russian Spierbank (owning russian car manufacturer GAZ and being very frank about taking GM's technology from Opel to make GAZ competitive) is something the Germany prime minister (chancelor) Angela Merkel was pushing for, so that has of course caused an uproar amongst german politicians. And they demanded GM/Opel returns 1.5 billion Euro of governmental help from German taxpayers to save Opel. It seems that GM now can afford it

Everyone else has relaxed thanks to this message. Opel stays in hands of GM and with their best-selling Insignia and upcoming Astra 4 (predicted to be a bestseller as well, this one in compacts sector) having a pretty bright future to come

[coolman]

Originally Posted by Tomash

This is big, guys: today (well, technically yesterday) General Motors has announced it's not going to sell Opel (and Vauxhall) to Magna-Spierbank duo!

Selling Opel to russian Spierbank (owning russian car manufacturer GAZ and being very frank about taking GM's technology from Opel to make GAZ competitive) is something the Germany prime minister (chancelor) Angela Merkel was pushing for, so that has of course caused an uproar amongst german politicians. And they demanded GM/Opel returns 1.5 billion Euro of governmental help from German taxpayers to save Opel. It seems that GM now can afford it

Everyone else has relaxed thanks to this message. Opel stays in hands of GM and with their best-selling Insignia and upcoming Astra 4 (predicted to be a bestseller as well, this one in compacts sector) having a pretty bright future to come

Hey, that's good news.

[Xanthos]

Very, very good news.
- X

[HeatherR]

Good news, but the Germans are mad!

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...-sale-to-Magna

Hope that does not hurt the restructuring...

[UCF w00t]

Originally Posted by HeatherR

Good news, but the Germans are mad!

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...-sale-to-Magna

Hope that does not hurt the restructuring...

They're just pissed that Maximum Bob showed them up last week.

[Tomash]

Originally Posted by HeatherR

Good news, but the Germans are mad!

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...-sale-to-Magna

Hope that does not hurt the restructuring...

I have a few friends from Germany and generally "Germans" and "German politicians" are two groups not to be confused

So yeah, basically the whole team of Angela Merkel is mad. Mostly because successful selling of Opel was supposed to be their strongest point in the upcoming parliament election campaign (and also because Angela probably promised Putin that russian-gov't-owned Spierbank will get Opel).

But Germans are actually happy about how it turned out

[HeatherR]

Originally Posted by Tomash

I have a few friends from Germany and generally "Germans" and "German politicians" are two groups not to be confused

So yeah, basically the whole team of Angela Merkel is mad. Mostly because successful selling of Opel was supposed to be their strongest point in the upcoming parliament election campaign (and also because Angela probably promised Putin that russian-gov't-owned Spierbank will get Opel).

But Germans are actually happy about how it turned out

I hope you're right, but the article also talks about the average worker...And they don't seem too happy...

I have met a number of Opel workers when my husband had an assignment that took him there for work (I tagged along a bit). They were very nice people, and I agree to the difference between "Germans" and "German politicians"--that's true a lot of places!

On the other hand, the Brits seem a bit relieved!

[diddiyo]

I can understand why they would be a little angry. For months they've been working on a solution to sell Opel and now all of a sudden GM is like "oops sorryyyyy no sale". hopefully GM is giving back the money the German govt. gave them to keep Opel alive over they last few months.

[HeatherR]

Originally Posted by diddiyo

I can understand why they would be a little angry. For months they've been working on a solution to sell Opel and now all of a sudden GM is like "oops sorryyyyy no sale". hopefully GM is giving back the money the German govt. gave them to keep Opel alive over they last few months.

I wouldn't count on giving the $ back, although it would be a nice gesture...the problem with the deal the way I see it was the Russian part, not the sale to Magna...GM was concerned about sensitive information getting into questionable hands...a valid concern.

I understand the employees' frustration...they've been in limbo for quite some time and now are still unsure what the future will be....I just hope they don't let their frustration negatively impact themselves (Opel=GM whether they like it or not).

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by HeatherR

I hope you're right, but the article also talks about the average worker...And they don't seem too happy...

I have met a number of Opel workers when my husband had an assignment that took him there for work (I tagged along a bit). They were very nice people, and I agree to the difference between "Germans" and "German politicians"--that's true a lot of places!

On the other hand, the Brits seem a bit relieved!

The Vauxhall guys are basically celebrating.

[diddiyo]

(sources)

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

The Vauxhall guys are basically celebrating.

yes because Magna's plan was to cut jobs in Spain and GB.

Originally Posted by cnn

If Magna had bought GM's European operations thousands would have lost their jobs in Spain and at Vauxhall plants in Britain.

I'm not sure, did Spain and GB give money to GM? If not that's really messed up because now GM would mostly cut jobs in Germany.

Originally Posted by cnn

GM announced a restructuring plan for Opel that would include cuts of as many as 10,000 jobs at the European subsidiary. About half of Opel's 50,000 workers are based in Germany.
The U.S. car giant confirmed in a statement to CNN that its revised viability plan for Opel "will likely include cuts in that range."

[diddiyo]

Opel President Carl-Peter Forster quits after sale collapse

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/06/r...er-sale-colla/

Forster was disgusted at the way that GM officials handled the whole process. Over the past several months, GM went back-and-forth, first agreeing to sell to Magna, then opting for another bid before returning to Magna, only to finally kill the deal altogether and keep the brand for itself.

can't blame him.

[DGthe3]

Annnnd there goes Canada's dream of owning a brand. :(

Oh well. At least we get to build Camaros and Challengers.

[HeatherR]

Originally Posted by diddiyo

Opel President Carl-Peter Forster quits after sale collapse

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/06/r...er-sale-colla/


can't blame him.

Don't worry Lutz is on it....

http://www.freep.com/article/2009110...s-new-Opel-CEO