Fiat's Opel plans
May 7, 2009
According to media reports that cite Fiat's proposal to the German government from earlier this week, the Opel plant in Kaiserslautern would cease operations under Fiat.
Plants in Bochum and the Opel headquarters at Ruesselsheim would, according to the reports, be scaled down, as part of "Project Phoenix".
One GM plant in England, one in Austria, as well as two Italian factories would also be part of the shutdown list, according to the reports.
However, this contradicts Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's denial earlier this week that any of Opel's four German plans would be closed.
Job cuts "inevitable" -- no matter who takes over
Armin Schild, a member of Opel's supervisory board, said job cuts would be inevitable in a takeover of Opel.
Job cut plans are one of the key criteria on which the suitability of potential investors in Opel will be judged, according to a checklist drawn up by Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), who will is to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in September's federal election.
Schild, who represents labor union IG Metall on the board, also said the Austrian-Canadian car parts maker Magna has so far presented a more concrete takeover proposal.
Media reports have said that possible partners for Magna include Russian carmaker GAZ as well as Russia's Sberbank. GAZ and its owner, billionaire Oleg Deripaska, have repeatedly denied interest.
General Motors teeters on bridge of bankruptcy
Meanwhile, Opel's parent company, General Motors, has announced a quarterly net loss of six billion dollars (4.5 billion euros) -- its eighth quarterly loss in a row. It also announced a loss of 2 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) from its European operations.
Revenue dropped by 47 percent, to 22.4 billion dollars.
GM, the largest US carmaker, is currently operating under a US federal bail-out plan. It is threatened with bankruptcy, as has already happened to its competitor, Chrysler. US President Barack Obama has given GM an end-of-May deadline for a new restructuring plan to be implemented.