GM to ditch Opel?

[LeoZwalf]

Article here:

http://www.euronews.net/2009/04/20/gm-on-brink-of-...

Annoyingly I cannot see the video at work and the written part is only small. If/when this happens, what will become of Opel and then Vauxhall? Also seems they will 'let' Saab go too...

ETA another link here - story on the FT website:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6be22014-2cfd-11de-8710-...

Edited by LeoZwalf on Tuesday 21st April 10:04

[900T-R]

Old news - Saab is already well on its way in a 'independance or bust' scheme, and Opel isn't likely to go down with GM without a fight either. Governments and new investors are less than willing to sink money in either operation as long as they're part of the US moneypit and funds can be freely moved across the ocean to help the mothership survive for, oh, another couple of hours, and money sure as hell won't be flowing in the other direction - so cutting the ties is the only option left.

[vxr8mate]

Was there talk of the government bying Vauxhall rather than let all those jobs go?

[smart51]

vxr8mate said:

Was there talk of the government bying Vauxhall rather than let all those jobs go?

It sounds unlikely. Vauxhall is just a brand name. Opel is GM's european arm. Opels are just rebadged Vauxhall for sale in the UK. The only remaining "Vauxhall" car factory is in Ellesmere Port. They make the Astra. It seems unlikely that the UK government will buy one factory that is part of an otherwise German operation. There is another GM factory in Luton that, last I heard, made vans for Renault. They are next to the old Vauxhall factory that closed a few years ago.

[Skodaku]

Great shame to see either Dpel or Vauxhall go. They both have an illustrious history, which is more than can be said for some of the other German marques. Still, history was then and we have to deal with the realities of "now" and "future".

[thunderbelmont]

Are Holden under the same threat down under?

It could be GM shedding baggage in an attempt to stay alive for the current crisis.

Could you imagine if they shuffled Holden in with Opel and Poxhall as a three way deal, to make it almost a tasty morsel. Saab's problem is trying to sell a premium car at a bottom bucket price, and with the cost of building in Scandanavia being bonkers, they'll never make a profit while they have a hole up their.....

Also - they have the Chevy brand well and truly lodged in Europe now, so why run three others over here?

We'll see what happens in the coming weeks/months...

[JMGS4]

Latest from the german news, apparently FIAT are sniffing around and want to buy Opel as Fiat are looking for money and hope to get some from the german government. Mind you the german government has refused any money unless it stays in Germany!

[900T-R]

JMGS4 said:

Mind you the german government has refused any money unless it stays in Germany!

Well at least Fiat doesn't have a known history of reshuffling their overseas subsidiaries' books so that it looks the latter are loss leaders with the mothership seeming a little less bankrupt than it really is. Yet.

Edited by 900T-R on Friday 24th April 08:31

[german tony]

looks like Chrysler isn't going to make it & thus Fiat badly need a new partner of some description. What they don't really need is a company whose products compete head on with it's own - which rules out both Opel/Vauxhall & Saab