Magna Hearts GM

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: November 9th, 2009

After scraping by owning Opel together with alleged Russian mobsters, Magna has given up aspirations of being a car company. Magna wants to “focus on its core competencies,” and will continue to be a supplier and contract manufacturer. This is what Magna’s Co-CEO Siegfried Wolf said to Germany’s Handelsblatt. Magna’s cozying-up with GM continues. “We have contracts from GM, and there is no reason why we should not get new ones,” Wolf said. Then, the ultimate brown-nosing is perpetrated:“The basis of all business is trust,” said Wolf. “In the recent months, a solid basis has been developed, which can act as the foundation for increased business.”GM built up trust with Magna by withdrawing from the Opel deal? According to Opel’s own workers’ council chief Klaus Franz, “GM does not enjoy any credibility or faith in the eyes of the public or the (German) government.” But Magna and GM have built a solid foundation? It is getting curiouser and curiouser.What Magna has lost is the trust of Volkswagen. Magna had won the contract to build the next gen Porsche Boxster and Cayman in Austria. This contract is now up in the air. Wolf said that VW has ample free capacities, and “there will be talks to hand the contract back.”

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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.

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Pnnyj on Nov 09, 2009
"GM built up trust with Magna by withdrawing from the Opel deal? According to Opel’s own workers’ council chief Klaus Franz, “GM does not enjoy any credibility or faith in the eyes of the public or the (German) government.” But Magna and GM have built a solid foundation? It is getting curiouser and curiouser." There are a bunch of Magna executives who are very aware (and happy) that GM just saved Magna from Frank Stronach's irrational ambition to own a car company. Apparently Mr. Wolf is one of them. As for VW I don't think they'll have many problems with Magna going forward. They were afraid that Magna might actually manage Opel well in direct competition with VW. That speaks to their respect for Magna's operational abilities, something that VW would value in a supplier.

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Buickman on Nov 09, 2009

don't trust anything that involves John Smith. remember he was GM of Cadillac when they lied about beating Lincoln in 1998. he drove sales straight into the dirt as head of VSSM. why on earth he is even still employed at GM is a mystery. and he's the guy we put in charge of negotiating Opel. no wonder everyone is upset...the German gov't and workers, Magna, the Russians, etc...

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Shiney2 on Nov 10, 2009

+1 John Horner

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Steven02 on Nov 10, 2009

What else do you expect them to say? They work with GM already and want to keep that business going.

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