General Motors’ Opel unit has not completely denied a Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) report at the weekend that the Opel Astra in future will only be produced in England and Poland thus putting the Rüsselsheim plant “at risk”.
While not denying that the Astra would go from the plant near Frankfurt, a statement attributed to Adam Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke was more optimistic about the factory’s future: “The Rüsselsheim plant is the only Insignia plant within the European Opel/Vauxhall production network and thus enjoys a unique position. It is one of our most modern sites from which we expect further improvements in efficiency, which would lead to additional investments.”
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GM said the plant built about 149,800 units of the Opel flagship plus 12,600 Buick Regal versions for the US [Buick production has since shifted to Oshawa, Canada -ed].
Astra production began in Rüsselsheim in 2011 and 18,300 were built there last year, Opel said. GM produced a total of 328,900 units in Europe in 2011.
“Opel/Vauxhall [has] presented its strategy for the future compact car manufacturing footprint to its European employee representatives (EEF). At the end of a consultation process with the EEF, the company will make a decision as to which plants will produce the next generation Astra as of 2015,” the statement said.
“Management will seek support for a plan to invest more than EUR300m in its next-generation Astra production facilities and run the plants on three shifts in order to optimise efficiency.
“The upcoming allocation decision of the next generation Astra is part of a bigger plan to make Opel/Vauxhall’s operations in Europe healthy and sustainable for the future. In consultations with the employee representatives, the company is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of its activities, looking both into revenue and cost.”
