Most of the 9,000 job cuts that General Motors Co. is planning for its European operations will be affecting its workforce in Germany. Nick Reilly, GM’s acting head of European operations, said that as the carmaker reorganizes its Opel/Vauxhall division, it plans to cut about 5,400 jobs at its German factories but will keep open all its plants in the country. GM will only make its final decisions after consultations with Opel labor leaders conclude next month. In the meantime, the future of Opel’s plant in Antwerp, Belgium, is “uncertain.” Reilly anticipates that the talks over this matter will have a resolution before the year ends. Continued after the jump!

Reilly added that GM aims for a “sustainable, viable business plan for Opel/Vauxhall,” especially in the current environment wherein competition gets increasingly more intense. The Opel factories that are most at risk of closure are those at Eisenach and Bochum, Germany, as well as Antwerp, which just last year had built 133,000 Astras. GM is set to create a working group to consider the future of its Antwerp factory and to weigh all alternatives.

GM’s reorganization plan calls for a 20% reduction of its European production. The company estimates that its restructuring will need 3.3 billion euros ($4.92 billion) to use next year to survive the economic crisis as well as to invest in new products and plants. While GM will provide some of the funding, it hopes to get some assistance from European countries with Opel factories.

[via autonews]

Tags: car news, general motors jobs cut, GM, gm 9000 jobs cut, Opel, opel news, opel restructuring plan

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 3:49 am and is filed under 2009, 4wheels News, Automakers, Europe, GM, Year, Zone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.