General Motors axes 9,000 jobs after stalled Opel sell-off plans
US CAR giant General Motors (GM) said yesterday it will be cutting 9,000 jobs around Europe – slightly fewer than the estimated figure of 10,000 – as it restructures its European arm, Opel.
GM added it would keep its four German plants open, almost a month after it called off plans to sell Opel, along with its UK branch Vauxhall, to Canadian car parts maker Magna.
But the brunt of the job losses – around 5,400 – will be going from Germany, where 25,000 are employed.
The future of its Antwerp plant, which employs about 2,500 people, is in doubt, but there is growing hope for the future of the near-5,000 people who are employed in the UK at Vauxhall’s Luton and Ellesmere Port plants.
Speciality carmaker Koenigsegg Automotive pulled out of a deal to buy Saab earlier this week, leaving GM back at square one. Before Koenigsegg expressed an interest, the carmaker had planned to let Saab fail.
Its board, including chief executive Fritz Henderson, is meeting next week to discuss the brand’s future.
GM emerged from bankruptcy in record time earlier this year, and has since been restructuring.