The European divisions of General Motors (GM) could collapse within weeks without European governments’ help, the BBC reported yesterday.
Chief operating officer at GM, Fritz Henderson called for governments to step in immediately to ensure GM Europe does not run out of money later in the Spring. He also said the assistance could help prevent some 300,000 jobs from being lost.
GM brands, Opel and Vauxhall are in need of 3.3bn euros to finance their separation which Mr Henderson said would open them up for investment.
He called on Opel, Vauxhall and Saab employees “to make shared sacrifices” to save their jobs.
The news followed rumours that speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, GM Europe’s chief executive Carl-Peter Forster had said that GM would consider closing plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton if they could not secure extra cash.
In response to GM released a statement to quash the gossip, stating Vauxhall is a ‘very strong and successful brand in the UK’ and there is ‘no plans for it to be axed’.
Stating that ‘The decision to continue manufacturing operations in the UK was reviewed two years ago and this has proved to be the correct decision’, the statement concluded that the ‘Ellesmere Port and Luton are very lean and efficient plants and as a result Ellesmere Port remains the lead production plant for the next generation Astra’.
Mr Forster arrived at Geneva yesterday following a meeting with the German government to secure aid.
Following that meeting, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said he had yet to be convinced that GM Europe’s Opel had a ‘sustainable future’, a precondition for any assistance.
The Swedish and UK governments have been similarly reluctant to offer direct assistance to save Saab and Vauxhall. Though the BBC suggest Mr Henderson’s comments along with Mr Forster’s ‘is clearly trying to force their hands, insisting that Saab will go into bankruptcy if its restructuring efforts do not succeed, and telling the UK government that it cannot expect the German government to do it on its own’.
