All four Opel factories in Germany will remain open under General Motors Co.’s 3.3 billion euro ($4.92 billion) restructuring plan for the European unit. Workers were concerned about GM’s plan to reduce production across Europe by 20-25% (the equivalent of three plants) as part of its reorganization plan.

Acting Opel CEO Nick Reilly has reassured German workers and local politicians that none of the plants will be closed after all. Regarded to be most at risk of closure were Opel factories at Eisenach and Bochum, along with a factory in Antwerp, Belgium. German workers make up around half of Opel’s 50,000 headcount.

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General Motors Co.’s restructuring plan for Opel now falls into place. The plan is said to be similar to what had been proposed by Magna International Inc. for the company, according to John Smith, GM’s group vice president of corporate planning and alliances, who conducted a conference call with reporters recently.

Explanations were in order since GM reversed course last Tuesday and chose to keep its European Opel/Vauxhall unit. Negotiations had been ongoing for months with Russian bank Sberbank and other Russian partners on the deal. GM asserted that an agreement would have been “complicated” to manage. GM says that this would have prevented GM’s access to key Opel technologies. Smith said that GM was hoping to have binding agreements but the deal was deemed to be “a very complicated” arrangement. He explained that without a guarantee that Opel would remain an important GM source for developing fuel-efficient technologies, GM would surely have been left with a “big hole” in its global plan. In addition, Smith said that GM is able to restructure Opel with less cost and as a result, Opel will have less debt.

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Like its American counterpart, the government of Germany is also contemplating a bailout program for GM Europe’s Adam Opel division. Opel, a German-based brand, has appealed to both federal and state governments in Germany for loan guarantees.

Because of a GM’s fast worsening global financial situation, accumulation of heavy losses, failing sales and bleeding cash, the absence of liquidity all contribute to threatening the feasibility of one of the oldest carmakers in Germany.

Hans Demant, Opel Managing Director, informed Reuters that government assistance would be spent on products and manufacturing plants in Germany and would remain only within Europe. Handelsblatt, the German business news daily, has also reported that government sources are saying that Hesse, a German state where Opel’s Russelsheim headquarters are located, may offer some 500 million Euros in loan guarantees to the ailing carmaker.

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