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Opel and Vauxhall sold to Magna by General Motors

by mudricky | September 10, 2009 at 06:54 am

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General Motors have said they are to sell their Opel and Vauxhall companies to Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna.

This seems to have been welcomed by most apart from here in the UK where British unions have expressed concern about the future of Vauxhall's 5,500 strong UK workers.

The decision was welcomed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she was "very pleased" about it.

Magna, which is backed by Russia's Sberbank, has said that it will keep all four German plants open.

The UK unions were also against it as they feared the UK could be at the forefront of any job losses, he said.

UK unions favoured GM keeping control of Vauxhall - saying this would be the best news for British jobs.

Opel employs a total of 54,500 workers across Europe, with 25,000 based in Germany.

Its Vauxhall brand employs 5,500 people in the UK, primarily at its two British plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port.

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Paschen

at 16:17 on September 10th, 2009

It did take long enough. I am not happy that Magna has it now, after all they have been under suspicion to be linked to the Russian mob for some time now.

The EU Crime task force and the RCMP in Canada have still a file open on Magna.

albertacowpoke

at 16:53 on September 10th, 2009

“Eventually I would like to build Opels in Canada,” Mr. Stronach said Thursday, adding that he hopes eventually to convince GM to let him sell the vehicles in the U.S. market as well. “It would be nice to have a [Canadian] car company in Canada.”

However, the deal bars the new company from doing business in the United States, where General Motors has its largest market, or in South Korea or China during the next several years for reasons related to supply contracts and intellectual-property rights.