German government pays the price for bungled GM Europe takeover
It has been revealed that Vauxhall workers at the Ellesmere Port plant in the UK could escape the cost-cutting exercise within GM Europe which will see significant jobs in the short to medium term. There are also hopes that the Luton plant will at least in the short term avoid any significant job losses with the vast majority of cost savings set to be implemented within the company's German operations.
Many people believe this is the price that the German authorities are paying for taking a high-handed approach with the bungled takeover of GM Europe, which ultimately failed. GM then decided to take the operation back in-house with the German authorities threatening possible legal action which has since come to nothing. There had been suggestions that job losses would be significant in the UK but at this moment in time, after intervention by Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson together with UK taxpayer subsidies, hopes are high that there will be no job losses.
However, the proof is very much in the pudding and at this moment in time we can take nothing for granted where the UK motor industry and GM Europe are concerned. We have been in this situation before where the short-term future appeared fairly clear only to have the waters muddied by confusion and speculation.
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