Dan Akerson: We Will Not 'Cut and Run' From Opel

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

November 16, 2012

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson told Opel employees this week that the company will not sell or "simply close up shop and leave".

"As a global auto company, GM needs a strong design, engineering, manufacturing and sales presence in Europe. There's room for Chevrolet in Europe but Opel fulfills that role," Akerson said in a speech. "Recommendations that we 'cut and run' show you that some people simply do not see how important Opel is to our success."

Opel and Vauxhall have been a big loser for General Motors with the brands posting losses for the past few quarters. The two are expected to post a loss between $1.5 to $1.8 billion loss in the next fiscal year. Still, GM is very hopefully the brand will break even by 2015.

Akerson also mentioned PSA during his speech saying, "The fact is we lack economies of scale in critical areas and if we can achieve scale by partnering with PSA, that's what we are going to do."

Source: Reuters

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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