Opel Soap, Day 2: Detroit Snubs Frau Merkel, Again

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: June 10th, 2011

opel soap day 2 detroit snubs frau merkel again

Day 2 of the Opel rumor mill, and it keeps on grinding. Is Opel up for sale or is it not? Opel, their works council and regional governments close to the labor unions dismissed yesterday’s reports of a possible sale of Opel by GM as pure speculation. Yesterday, Opel chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke sent a letter to all employees. Today, he called an all hands meeting in Rüsselsheim and appealed to his workforce to ignore the nasty rumors. What is missing: A clear denial from Detroit. Today, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that GM should “provide clarity regarding the future of Opel,” writes Der Stern. And the magazine adds: “GM however continues to take cover.”

Both works council chief Klaus Franz and Thomas Bieling, head of Opel’s dealer council, are looking for a clear statement from Detroit. “A letter by Mr. Stracke won’t put me at ease,” says dealer-boss Bieling. “I want a letter from Mr. Akerson. So far, there’s nothing.”

Franz wrote a letter to Merkel and asked for help. GM seems to be back to the dangerous game of ignoring the German government. The Handelsblatt reports that both Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert and Beatrix Brodkorb, spokeswoman of the Germany Ministry of Economics state that the German government is in touch with Opel, but not with GM. Ever since GM reneged on Opel, Detroit and Berlin are on cold war footing.

Even the all hands meeting in Rüsselsheim could have been better. Says the Handelsblatt: “Stracke called the reports ‘speculation,’ but he did not deny them unequivocally.”

One thing is clear: Currently, Detroit would be happier without Opel on the books and dragging the newly minted stock down. Last year, Opel did cost GM $1.76 billion in losses. In November 2010, Opel chief Reilly had expected $2 billion worth of red ink. Apparently, some of that was moved into 2011. Closing down Antwerp in 2010 did cost some $200,000 per worker. Reportedly, the colleagues in Bochum sold their skins for a little more. Severance payments of up to $360,000 will flow. In the first quarter of 2011, GM tripled its profits, Opel continued to hemorrhage.

#BertelSchmitt #China #Germany #Merkel #Opel

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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SCE to AUX on Jun 10, 2011

Opel may end up being for sale, but nobody's going to buy it. See script on Hummer, Saab, Saturn, and Pontiac for how it will go. The cast of characters will include wealthy Chinese conglomerates, small-time sports car mfrs, and celebrity car guys, all of whom will fall through in the end. Forget it; Opel will go down eventually, because GM can't afford the losses and Germany is not interested in them.

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- Patz on Jun 10, 2011
  
  Sorry, I do not agree with your comment. Hummer was a brand, producing very particular cars and for really small markets (very low volumes out of the U.S.) Saab was in a disaster mode. Unfortunately. And it's still. It was a premium brand and manufacturer, with an extablished customer basis. But a small basis. And in my opinion wrong decisions has been made in the past by GM on Saab. They could have done of Saab what VW has done of Audi. They could have made a full 'premium' lineup of vehicles basing on the Opels (as Audis to VW). But it's always easy to say when you don't have the steering wheel in your hands ;) Saturn and Pontiac where brands as well. That's not the right comparison, I think. In Europe, GM doesn't have so many brands. They have Chevy and Opel mainly. Then, Cadillac (but with 'transparent' volumes to the market...)
  
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Patz on Jun 10, 2011

@geozinger good point. Your understanding is right (also my German is not that good, anyway, so we might both be wrong...) Actually, interesting. I also cannot really understand the difference between Opel and GME - when we talk about legal or financial stuff, I always have hard times in understanding what's really going on. But you know, the Ruesselsheim engineering is almost a 'one thing' with the manufacturing, so I see a separate selling quite difficult. And I wonder who would really want to buy those 'expensive' plants. Also the Vauxhall facilities are very important and sensitive. Let's see what'll be next.

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