GM returns Germany’s favor

The German government, which publicly slammed General Motors for not selling its Opel unit, will be faced with the bulk of Opel’s job cuts, according to GM’s new plan. The head of GM Europe, Nick Reilley, said that half or more of 9,000 job cuts would take place in Germany, according to Automotive News. Germany had lobbied hard for cutting elsewhere in Europe, including a plant in Belgium, and had been highly critical of General Motors for not selling Opel to its preferred buyer, Magna.

The jobs to be lost in Ruesselsheim, Germany are divided roughly evenly between administration (1,300), production (862), and engineering/R&D (548). Additionally, a powertrain plant in Kaiserslautern and a plant in Bochum are targeted for cuts. Other countries would generally see much lower losses, the highest being in Spain with 900 jobs dropped from the Corsa/Meriva plant – unless GM takes a small SUV from Antwerp, in which case Belgium would lose 2,321 jobs.