Comments on: GM and Opel: The Winds of War

By: Steven02

Steven02 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:01:22 +0000

@wmba
I am not sure how GM was black mailing Germany. Germany was trying to force the buyer on GM. GM has the money for the 800 Million Euros, so that isn’t a problem. I think Germany is so messed up right now with this. The restructuring was going to happen no matter who took over.
What is likely to happen…
GM will talk to several countries and unions talking about what the plans are going forward. There will be negotiations. Some plants will close. If Germany plays too much hardball, the plants there will close. GM has too much production anyway in Europe. The question is, which countries will work with GM on this? Those will be the ones who keep jobs.

By: wmba

wmba — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:09:49 +0000

Looks as though Guttenburg will end up as the sacrificial lamb for the German government. Stupid move to write that letter to GM and to say loans would be available regardless of the identity of the investor. Dumb. Time to become an expert on growing houseplants during one’s lengthy retirement.

GM has dug itself its own hole by trying to blackmail Germany, though. Mark my words, this is the end of Opel. One way or another, the German federal and state governments involved will work out a way to wriggle out of handing out money to GM. It just won’t happen. Politicians are great at re-explaining what they really meant.

Forget about the unions, they’re a side show, unfortunately for their members.

I agree with Ingvar, why pay money to GM to close plants and also pay for unemployment benefits and re-training of Opel workers? Paying once will be quite enough of a burden. The German government will look after its own people and to hell with GM.

And that bridge money remaining, some $800 million Euros, is still due by the end of this month. If GM doesn’t fork that over, the German equivalent of the bailiffs will move in and take the plants as payment instead, or as part payment only, really rubbing the General’s nose in it by leaving an outstanding bill. I’d like to watch Fritz’s little mustache twitch when that happens.

Opel IP and plants? Gone, just because those losers at GM thought they were so damn smart. You can’t beat City Hall, and especially not a pissed-off one.

GM’s reputation in Europe will disappear instantly, and the delusional suits from Detroit, who somehow think that Europe will suck up a million dickwad Daewoo “Chevrolets” a year by 2014 will grouse about “furriners’ as they play golf in Grosse Pointe, still monumentally wasting your tax money and mine in an endless game of charades.

By: Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:12:09 +0000

Neelie Kroes made it absolutely clear that she won’t allow subsidies if they are conditional on keeping a plant open or workers employed. The only country that could keep up appearances was Germany – because most of the Opel plants and workers are in Germany. And because they had cut side deals with Spain, the UK, and possibly Poland and Austria. Any single country cutting a deal would be stopped by the EU.

By: Ingvar

Ingvar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:40:51 +0000

Yeah, perhaps so. But we are talking about a German government paying up billions of dollars to have foreigners close plants and make Germans unemployed. If they have to pay for the unemployement benefits in the other end anyway, why pay the Americans to sack people at this end?

By: John Horner

John Horner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:30:55 +0000

If GM is a smart poker player they will simply drive a wedge between the German unions and those in all the rest of its European plants. See how long solidarity lasts then.

By: Ingvar

Ingvar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:50:06 +0000

No, what they need is a better poker player. And Lutz is definitively a better player than Forster.

This sounds more and more like a big scam. They are going to blackmail Europe into paying up, or it’s adios muchachos. They are going to use Opel, the factories and the workforce as leverage. Pay, or else…

By: OldandSlow

OldandSlow — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:21:20 +0000

GM sent Lutz to Europe to patch things?

What they really need is someone with tact – rather than a loose cannon rolling all over the deck kicking up more dust.

By: Daanii2

Daanii2 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:47:40 +0000

Thanks for the story. Always good to hear about the Opel saga from a knowledgable source.

Russian mobsters. GM reneging on a deal. Labor in turmoil. Political fighting. Bob Lutz going back to Europe.

This story has more plot twists than a soap opera. It’s not hard to imagine a sad end to this story. Can anyone imagine a happy one?

By: Ingvar

Ingvar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:52:38 +0000

So, GM backed out of the Magna-deal “in good faith”, believing they would set their teeth in the coffer of 3 billion euros any which way? So, what will happen when they find out there’s no way in hell they will recieve any european money if they are planning on closing plants and sacking people? Not even if they just wanted to preserve status quo prior to last year? I mean, how gullible do they think that the europeans are?