Vauxhall GM sale OFF
November 4th, 2009 by Richard Aucock
GM has CALLED OFF the sale of its European Vauxhall and Opel operations in a shock industry move.
The news broke late on Tuesday 3 November.
GM says it is because of an improving set of trading results over the past few months, which means it can now justify keeping the brands.
The firm also acknowledges the ‘importance’ of Vauxhall and Opel to its global strategy.
GM president and CEO Fritz Henderson said it will now ‘initiate a restructuring of its European operations in earnest’. This will cost around €3 billion – ‘significantly lower than all bids submitted as part of the investor solicitation’.
In other words, it’s cheaper for GM to keep Vauxhall and Opel and rebuild, than to sell it.
‘This was deemed to be the most stable and least costly approach for securing Opel/Vauxhall’s long-term future.’
Question marks over the deal with Canadian parts maker Magna were already being raised, after the EC competition commissioner announced she was looking into the deal.
This was due to the suggestion German plants had been prioritised over other EU factories. The German Government had, earlier in the year, committed billions to save GM Europe.
Car Dealer Magazine will be following this news very closely, as the implications are massive.
What are your first reactions to it? Share them here…
By Richard Aucock