Opel Open To More Partners, Presents Restructuring Plan To No Applause

A lot of the Opel news seen below emanated from an all hands meeting at Opel's ancestral home in Rüsselsheim. Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke explained the restructuring plan for Opel. According to German media reports, Stracke delivered more questions than answers. According to Reuters Germany, "the management of the lossmaking GM subsidiary did not contribute to a heightened confidence of employees." The impression is that the management has no plan. What Stracke presented today did not impress. Stracke said that production of the volume model Astra, currently made in three locations, will be concentrated on two plants – which, remains open. The PSA alliance will not bring immediate results, the reports say. The first car with a common architecture is expected not earlier then 2016. Opel is already thinking of more alliances. "Opel is open to beneficial partnerships, like the recent one with PSA Peugeot Citroen," the company said in a statement. Criticized that Opel had been kept out of new growth markets, Stracke states that Opel wants to open new markets in Australia, North Africa, South America and the Middle East. "We already started successfully in Israel and we will intensify our engagement in China, Russia and Turkey," Stracke said while stressing that exports into other markets than Europe are not the do-all and end-all. No kidding: Israel is a 240,000 unit per year market, or about as important on a global scale as the Czech Republic. Opel's engagement in China so far has led to nothing, seen any Opels in GM's China statistics? And why does GM have to look for new alliance partners while it sits on the world's largest (and most mis-managed) scale effect? Let's face it: There is no quick fix in sight. Opel's and GM's hands are tied through 2014 by contracts with the unions, the losses will continue. Closing one plants in 2015 will cost some $2 billion, creating a huge loss after years of hefty losses. It typically takes a few years until a painful restructuring will show its effects.  This costs time and money, and Opel has neither.   from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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