According to Reuters, GM may build the next generation Astra in Sweden.
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The news agency quotes an Automobilwoche article in in which Carl-Peter Forster, head of GM Europe, says that Saab has a good chance of manufacturing the next Astra because its Trollhattan plant is ‘super-productive’.
GM Europe has previously confirmed that the next generation versions of Saab car lines currently built at Trollhatten will be built at Russelsheim in Germany, alongside Opel models sharing the same platform.
GM has already said it does not need all the plants that are producing the Astra today to build the next generation car from 2010. This means that there is a major battle between Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port in the UK, Antwerp in Belgium and Bochum in Germany for the business. Poland is likely to get some Astra business because of its relatively low costs.
By throwing Saab’s Trollhattan plant into the pot, GM Europe is really putting the pressure on workers in other plants to improve their productivity.
Reuters suggested that the real pressure is on Bochum, where workers staged a wildcat strike in 2004.
