German chancellor Angela Merkel has said she saw “good prospects” for Opel’s German plants after General Motors presented a restructuring plan for its European unit.
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Germany will take the brunt – 50-60% – of the roughly 9,000 job cuts that GM envisions as it reorganises its European arm Opel, GM’s acting head of European operations Nick Reilly said earlier on Wednesday.
“I hear from General Motors that they of course want the German plants to be restructured but (that they are) giving all plants good prospects,” Merkel told Reuters before meeting Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero near Berlin.
She added that GM’s restructuring plan was similar to that put forward by a Russian-backed group led by Magna International, which had been poised to take over Opel before GM backtracked on talks about such a sale.
“In qualitative terms it is very similar to the earlier plans,” Merkel said.
