There is no end in sight for GM’s losses in Europe as the EU crisis continues.
General Motors will invest €4 billion ($5.2 b) in Germany and Europe through 2016. Through 2016, Opel will introduce 23 new models and 13 new powertrains. The announcement came today as the GM Board met in Rüsselsheim just weeks after IG Metall union members of Adam Opel AG in Bochum voted more than 3:1 against a revised labor agreement that would have offered their location some long-term jobs while cutting others. GM’s other German locations – Eisenach, Kaiserslautern and Rüsselsheim – have approved the plan.
GM has lost more than $18 billion in Europe since 1999, including $1.8 billion in 2012. GM also wrote down more than $5 billion in assets in the Eurozone, and it wrote off more than half the value of its PSA Citroën stock (-$220 million) acquired latest year in what GM said at the time was a collaboration that would, eventually, save billions. Nothing was new in today’s speeches.
Successive GM restructuring plans have failed to stop the oceans of red ink. GM has repeatedly promised to break even in Europe by mid-decade, a prospect that appears laughable, given the ongoing EU crisis.
“As a global automotive company GM needs a strong presence in Europe – in terms of design and development as well as manufacturing and sales,” said Dan Akerson, Chairman and CEO of GM, at a press briefing at Adam Opel Haus. “Opel is a key to our success and enjoys its parent company’s full support.”
In addition to Akerson, Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann, Supervisory Board Chairman Steve Girsky and Works Council Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug also spoke at today’s press conference in Rüsselsheim.
“This Board has once again made very clear that our 10-year plan Drive!2022, that foresees our return to profitability by the middle of the decade, has our parent company’s complete support,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann.
Read AutoInformed on:
- Opel Union Members in Germany Vote Down Revised Labor Deal
- Karl-Thomas Neumann formerly of VW Now GM Europe Head
- GM Earns $4.9 Billion in 2012 down from $7.6 Billion in 2011
- Toyota Ousts GM from Global Auto Sales Leadership. VW Third
- Volkswagen Group Posts Record Profit of €11.5 Billion in 2012
- EU Car Sales Drop 10.5% during February to 795,482
- EU Commercial Vehicle Sales Plunge 13% in February
