Fiat could shut plants in Austria, Britain, Germany and Italy as part of its plans to take over General Motors’ European operations, German newspaper Handelsblatt said on Thursday.

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According to news agencies, the paper quoted from a proposal it said had been presented by Fiat to the German government, listing five factories that could be shut down and three others that would have their capacity reduced.


Handelsblatt said proposed shutdowns included an Opel powertrain plant in Kaiserslautern in western Germany, the Vauxhall/Opel/Renault van JV plant in Luton in Britain, and a factory in Graz in Austria, plus two Fiat plants in Italy.


Plants to have capacity reduced were Zaragoza, Spain (the main Opel/Vauxhall Corsa facility), the Saab facility in Trollhaettan, Sweden, and the large Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium, the paper added.


Fiat earlier this week denied German media reports that it planned to axe 18,000 jobs by closing or scaling down 10 GM and Fiat factories in Europe if it took over Opel from GM.

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“With reference to the Reuters report which cites the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the Fiat-Opel plan, the Fiat Group clearly states that it is not information generated by Fiat and does not form part of any plan prepared by Fiat,” the firm said in a statement.


The Germany daily cited a ‘sensitive internal document’ titled ‘Project Football’ and dated 3 April.


Handelsblatt today cited a Fiat proposal codenamed ‘Project Phoenix’ which it said it obtained.


The 46-page proposal also included plans to take over GM assets in South America and South Africa, Reuters reported.


Under the proposal, Opel would remain headquartered in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt.


Other factories in France, Poland, Greece and Serbia would be unaffected under the plan, Handelsblatt added.


Fiat has said it wants to merge its car unit with GM’s European operations, including Opel/Vauxhall and Saab, to create the world’s second-largest automaker after Toyota.