Opel is fighting to retain the amount of vehicle development work it does for the GM group, according to the Opel works council.
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Council head Klaus Franz told German press agency dpa that, because gas guzzling cars were no longer in demand in the US, and the planned new truck architecture had been cut, there was a battle to divide up the work left.
He said it was no longer a question of competing on the basis of who can offer the best technical solution – work instead would be awarded on a political basis.
Franz told the Spiegel newspaper about plans for engineers in the US to develop models that previously would have been the responsibility of the technical development centre in Rüsselsheim, just outside Frankfurt. Such projects include the redesigned Saab 9-5 and Opel/Vauxhall Zafira MPV plus a new generation of four cylinder engines.
The Opel works council chief saw two dangers. Germany would suffer from a lack of contracts and his US colleagues would not be able to engineer models to European tastes.
“We would not venture to build the next eight cylinder engine,” he told the magazine.
Franz expects a decision in two to four months.
GM Europe head Carl-Peter Forster told Spiegel that, even if the cars themselves were developed in the US, some of their parts could still be designed in Rüsselsheim.
The Rüsselsheim centre employs around 8,000 people and, from 2010, will develop all new GM models on a new small and medium car platform so there should be no immediate concern for the jobs there.
Opel is currently suffering from low sales volumes. Many European plants have been shutdown for a few days to adjust inventories. The Rüsselsheim plant has not been affected.
