GM to sell Opel to Magna by Thursday
October 14, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
With Hummer and SAAB out of the way, General Motors Co. is likely to finalise a deal to sell its European brand Opel to a group led by Magna International Inc., according to reports from Germany.
The deal which was already agreed to more than a month ago hit turbulence with labor union demands for a veto on factory closures. Workers in the UK and Spain are worried that the 4.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in aid committed by the German government to fix Opel will come with conditions to reward the carmaker’s German factories only.
The deal will see GM sell 55 per cent of Opel to Canadian supplier Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank, 10 percent will go to employees in return for 1.2 billion euros in concessions and the old General will still keep a 35 per cent holding.
The interest by Russian’s largest commercial bank (Sberbank) indicates a new direction for the company to push Opel aggressively into Russia. Magna and Sberbank will inject 500 million euros ($810 million) into Opel. The plan involves cutting Opel’s workforce by 10,500 (currently 50,000+) across Europe. Opel has half of its workers in Germany with Belgium, Britain and Spain also heavily involved.
The German plants will continue operating however there are no guarantees for Opel’s Antwerp plant in Belgium and British site of sister brand Vauxhall in Luton.
Vauxhall currently employs approximately 5,500 people in Britain, the majority of them working at the Luton plant.
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Does anybody know if Holden will continue importing the Combo?
Since the combo is an Opel corsa / barina with a van on the end it is unlikely. Seems Holdenis trying to remove itself far away from Opel as possible and continue with it’s less appealing Daewoo cars. Perhaps a Daewoo Combo down the track lol
I guess this means the VXR8 is also dead
35 Percent I’d say thats still enough to have some influence as to what Opel provide and where they are sold etc.. which could see the Insignia and the Corsa etc still make it to Australia.
If they do make it here; I think they will be sold as Opels with their own showroom at major Holden Dealerships just like HSVs are.
I think an Opel Direct dealer in Oz would be a good idea. But if your right about GM having an influence,then Holden would want such a move blocked to avoid the competition. Holdens direction is one of trying to profit from the cheaper GM Dat products. This could be a reflection of Holdens poor financial position.
I Very much Doubt That HOLDEN LOVER.
Opel/Vauxhall will be a thing of the past, for G.M Holden.
Opel/Vauxhall are listed in the same group as PONTIAC,G.M.C[Gay Mans Chevy]
Saturn & Saab. Which is the “OLD” G.M.
Oops Sorry ment to be HUMMER instead of G.M.C[Gay Mans Chevy].
Don’t think you will be seeing Opel in Oz. The new consortium owners are more interested in volume, they will be attacking Russia big time, and eventually China.
GM is just a bit player in Opel now. Did not want to sell it and tried to extract as many conditions as possible to the deal, no sales in China, buy back down the track etc. They failed.
GM Dat is also in serious financial trouble at the moment, could get interesting real soon.
Give it a year and GM will have sorted out its once global empire and all should be well. GM had some good products while they still owned Opel, not many left now.
There wont be much left to sort out Shak.
I suspect that GM Dat will soon be going the way of Opel.
For those of you who think that Opel wouldn’t allow their cars such as the Insignia to be sold by GM. There is an article on a [US] autoblog website which says Buick are set to revive the “Regal” name with a new model next year.
The car will be “based on” [read it is] the Euro Market OPC Insignia with the same 300Kw+ Direct Injection Twin-Turbo Optimised [DITTO] 3.6 Litre V6 the same 6-speed transmission the same Brembo Brakes and the same AWD system etc..
So why wouldn’t it make it to Australia?
If it does make it here it would most likely cost approx $40-50k+.and therefore; be in a different market to that of the Epica.
Not to mention that being AWD it would be aimed at a completely different demographic to the Epica – more likely performance/sports car enthusiasts
There is now even more of a chance of the Corsa and the Insignia making it to Australia.. be it as a sepperate stand alone brand
Last week GM decided to keep Opel.. and now Bob Lutz [who has has made no secret of how much of a Holden fan he is] has just been appointed [interim] CEO of Opel..