Opel/Vauxhall News: Opel Sale Hits A Roadblock Due to Development Center Issue

[William Maley]

If General Motors and PSA Group were hoping to have a smooth sale of Opel, they were dashed this week.

Both Automobilwoche and German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung report Opel's work council and German labor union IG Metall have some specific demands for workers at Opel's development center in Rüsselsheim. The two parties want a guarantee that 7,700 workers will keep their jobs at the center and that continue performing work for GM until 2020 - which could account for 30 percent of the development center's output. 

There are also some disagreements on vehicle development. PSA Group wants the next-generation Corsa subcompact to use one their platforms, while Opel wants to keep the current platform and also wants to develop an SUV based on the Insignia platform. 

Until this issue can get resolved, GM and PSA Group cannot move forward with the Opel sale. Originally, GM was planning to move their European assets into a new company titled Opel Automobile GmbH. But plans for this have been postponed.

"Only when these service contracts are signed and the new ITEZ contract is signed can the business transition come," an insider told Allgemeine Zeitung.

A spokeswoman for the works council told Automobilwoche that there was no disagreement between the various parties on this issue. But the complexity of this matter has pushed back plans for workers to ratify the agreement.

Information sessions about the agreement that were supposed to take place this week have been reportedly canceled.

Source: Automobilwoche, Allgemeine Zeitung

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[David]

Bloody Unions will be the death of companies.

I could see GM deciding to just kill off the product line and lay off everyone. Would not hurt the overall company in the long term and it would reduce the extreme surplus production capacity. These people have got to wake up to the fact that nothing lasts forever and nothing is a job for life.

[Drew Dowdell]

Wait... who is calling the shots at Opel these days... Opel or GM?  Opel wants a crossover on the Insignia platform? That's... kinda dumb. The new Small-Midsize crossover platform is on Delta (Equinox / Terrain)  The larger mid-size is on C1 platform (Acadia, XT5) which is a distant cousin of Epsilon (E2).

PSA is probably in the right to want to use their own platform for the Corsa otherwise it ends up on Gamma.

[oldshurst442]

I think this is just hijacking tactics by the German unions to keep jobs safe in Germany.

PHOQUE GERMANY!

The Euro-zone is crumbling because there only a few countries that benefit from factories...

 

Greece is blamed for its problems because

1. Greeks are lazy

2  Greece and its socialist government

3. Greece is corrupt

Yet NOBODY mentions outside of selling olives and feta cheese and a couple of tourists coming to see the Parthenon and swim at her beaches, there are NO jobs!!!

Germany keeps ALL her manufacturing to HERSELF(or is it himself as Hitler called Germany the Fatherland)

Anyway!

PHOQUE Germany! I hope PSA buys Opel and moves ALL of Opel's factories in France!!!!

 

 

 

[daves87rs]

5 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Wait... who is calling the shots at Opel these days... Opel or GM?  Opel wants a crossover on the Insignia platform? That's... kinda dumb. The new Small-Midsize crossover platform is on Delta (Equinox / Terrain)  The larger mid-size is on C1 platform (Acadia, XT5) which is a distant cousin of Epsilon (E2).

PSA is probably in the right to want to use their own platform for the Corsa otherwise it ends up on Gamma.

Yeah, that is the scary part....I think they simply either don't have a clue, or they don't give a rat's butt. Dfelt has the right idea....would be sad, but if they want to learn the hard way.....

[regfootball]

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Wait... who is calling the shots at Opel these days... Opel or GM?  Opel wants a crossover on the Insignia platform? That's... kinda dumb. The new Small-Midsize crossover platform is on Delta (Equinox / Terrain)  The larger mid-size is on C1 platform (Acadia, XT5) which is a distant cousin of Epsilon (E2).

PSA is probably in the right to want to use their own platform for the Corsa otherwise it ends up on Gamma.

insignia platform would actually be perfect for a more carlike crossover, not trucky, larger than the small equinox.  Edge competitor.  And it wouldn't handle like a turd.

7 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

I think this is just hijacking tactics by the German unions to keep jobs safe in Germany.

PHOQUE GERMANY!

The Euro-zone is crumbling because there only a few countries that benefit from factories...

 

Greece is blamed for its problems because

1. Greeks are lazy

2  Greece and its socialist government

3. Greece is corrupt

Yet NOBODY mentions outside of selling olives and feta cheese and a couple of tourists coming to see the Parthenon and swim at her beaches, there are NO jobs!!!

Germany keeps ALL her manufacturing to HERSELF(or is it himself as Hitler called Germany the Fatherland)

Anyway!

PHOQUE Germany! I hope PSA buys Opel and moves ALL of Opel's factories in France!!!!

 

 

 

tinfoil hat to me suggests the 'sale' was not really a sale yet, but other than to say GM sold a dead weight asset......when in reality what is probably hapenning is an actual merger......

[David]

3 hours ago, regfootball said:

tinfoil hat to me suggests the 'sale' was not really a sale yet, but other than to say GM sold a dead weight asset......when in reality what is probably happening is an actual merger......

GM woke up to the real fact that as long as the Unions have the GOV in their pocket and are protected, they will not make money and it is the ultimate money pit. Time to cut losses and walk away.

There is a reason why the asian brands never bought mainland European car companies. They knew better than to get connected with that union mess.

As I said, if GM cannot unload Opel, then just shut it down and kill it. Best way to go.

[riviera74]

So IG Metall is putting up demands in order to allow a sale of Opel to PSA.  REALLY?!  Since when do unions have a say on matters such as these?

If the sale is scuttled because of this, then Mary Barra should simply shutter Opel posthaste with no mercy.  Teach IG Metall and other German unions the party is officially over.