Wednesday of Truth for Opel

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt
Wednesday, May 20th 2009. Final deadline for anybody who’s seriously interested in taking over Opel. Today, concrete and final plans and bids must be presented to GM and the German government in Berlin. Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economy Minister Guttenberg, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück und Minister of Labor Olaf Scholz are meeting in Berlin to decide next steps, Automobilwoche [sub] writes. GM emissaries from Detroit are also standing by in Berlin to check the bids, Handelsblatt learned.A bridge loan, estimated at €2 billion, has already been arranged. Condition: There needs to be a viable partner, and GM needs to agree to the German trustee model, which hasn’t been met with a lot of applause in Detroit. But they are running out of time and money at RenCen. When GM goes bankrupt by the end of the month, and no Opel deal is closed, all bets are off. Only two bidders seem to stand a chance in Berlin:Fiat and Magna. Both companies are lobbying hard. Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne yesterday met Berthold Huber, head of the metal workers union IG Metall. Huber prefers Magna, and Marchionne tried to talk him out of it. While Sergio shmoozed the unions and Thuringia’s premier Dieter Althaus, Magna had a sit-down with Opel’s worker’s council to get even more support for their concept. It’s popular in Germany, because it doesn’t plan plant closures in Deutschland. According to Reuters, the Magna plan includes opening up under-used Opel plants to other automakers and allowing them to use Opel platforms to bring niche models to market quickly. Bloomberg identified the third bidder as RHJ International SA, a Brussels-based investment firm started by Ripplewood Holdings LLC founder Timothy Collins. The Germans prefer someone who knows more about cars than what can be learned from the backseat of a limo.This weekend, a German government delegation will travel to Washington DC to sell their trustee model. If there is no buy-on in DC, then Economy Minister Guttenberg has another option: “an orderly bankruptcy.” No trustee model, no loans from Germany, no loans from Germany, no interested investor. And Opel will keel over with the mother shipSpeaking in Berlin after the government meeting, Labour Minister Olaf Scholz said preliminary decisions on Opel must be made by the beginning of next week.“We don’t have much time. Decisions must be made this week, or at the latest by the start of next week,” Scholz told a news conference..
Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 7 comments
  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on May 20, 2009

    Frank Stronach's lovely daughter Belinda is/was one of Bill Clinton's gal pals. Whether that helps or hurts daddy with US politics is above my pay grade.

  • VLAD VLAD on May 20, 2009

    I would wait a week for BK and then buy it from the trustee. Critical to get GM totally out of it for good. Forget Vauxhall. Then make my deal with the German gov.

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
Next