Will General Motors retain ownership of Opel and Vauxhall?
Despite the fact that General Motors Europe has been under pressure to dispose of a number of operations, with the US parent company having been rescued by the US government in exchange for ditching their European operations, the picture is still clouded. Talks have been ongoing for some months now with the German government, because the German operation is by far and away the largest of the GM Europe operations, although the UK government has been very hands-on, in public at least.
It now appears that GM Europe is starting to play hardball after demanding significant concessions from the German government and a deadline for a deal, with two potential investors in the pipeline, looks set to pass. Whether GM Europe is just increasing the pressure on the German government or actually believes it can retain ownership and run the business from a sound financial base remains to be seen.
Despite the fact that Vauxhall employs thousands of UK workers the UK government, while officially in the loop, has to a great extent been pushed out of the picture. This will not impress Lord Mandelson who has been very vocal over the last few weeks regarding his support for Vauxhall even if the UK government has yet to come forward with any hard cash.
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