General Motors Europe’s German unit Opel does not face an imminent cash crunch, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
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“Opel is liquid,” a spokesman told Reuters as he declined to confirm a report by Bild newspaper, citing sources familiar with the matter, as saying Opel had generated enough cash to tide it over for the next four months.
“We have said we’re OK until the third quarter,” GM Europe and Ireland communications chief Denis Chick told just-auto later on Wednesday.
However, Reuters noted that GM Europe officials had said only last month that Opel could run out of cash as early as the second quarter of this year.
Bild said strong sales of the new D-segment Insignia model line (sold as a Vauxhall here in the UK), and voted the 2009 European car of the year, had helped close a looming liquidity gap at Opel.
The current German incentive scheme, that pays buyers EUR2,500 to swap old cars for new, has also boosted demand (21% in February; 40% last month) in Europe’s biggest car market this year.
“Liquidity is assured,” Bild quoted Klaus Franz, GM Europe’s top labour leader and a supervisory board member at Opel, as saying. “We have time to build up Opel Europe.”
