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Vauxhall job fears ease as GM Europe buyer named
10.09.09
The future of 5500 Vauxhall workers in Luton and Liverpool was secured for the immediate future tonight after General Motors sold control of its European operations to a German-backed bidder.
GM said it would sell majority control of Opel, which owns Vauxhall, to Austro-Canadian car parts group Magna in league with Russian bank Sberbank.
This was a major victory for struggling German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has staked her political future in this month's elections on a bailout for Opel, which employs 25,000 people in Germany.
Reports overnight had indicated GM might call off the sale in a move that would also have sparked a renewed political crisis for Lord Mandelson's business department in Westminster and Angela Merkel's government in Berlin.
Magna and Sberbank will purchase a 55% stake and GM will hold 35%. The remaining 10% will go to workers.
Analysts questioned the sense of the deal. One said: “This seems a political decision rather than an economic one. The more meaningful choice would have been to sell to a major car producer like one of the Chinese companies.”
Exactly what a Magna deal will mean for Vauxhall and its workers at the van-making plant in Luton and at Ellesmere Port, the home of the Astra, remains uncertain. Union leaders fear that even if Magna commits to the Vauxhall plant in the immediate future, in the longer term there could be hefty job cuts as part of a slimming-down of the industry worldwide.
GM delayed a decision on the Magna bid on fears intellectual property could fall into Russian hands — oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a friend of Mandelson and former owner of the bust LDV vans group, is part of Magna's plans to take production to Russia.
Mandelson had urged GM to take an “objective, commercial decision” about the future of its European divisions. He said last month the decision should secure the long-term viability of both Opel and Vauxhall in the UK, and must not be “distorted” by political considerations in any one country.
Reader views (6)
Warning bells must be ringing at Vauxhall. Anything concerning Gaz must surely be doomed. LDV workers were laid off in December 2008, but not actually made redundant until June 2009. Imagine what pressure this put on 850 workers, their families and associated companies. Never knowing if they had got a job to go back to. Not even being able to claim on their mortgage protection policies. It seems strange that Oleg Deripaska can find the funds to purchase a stake in another van company, when he refused to help the one he already had. I wonder where the unique LDV electric van technology will end up. I hope someone steps in to support Vauxhall workers, and they do not become yet another statistic like the workers at LDV. Best wish to all the people at Vauxhall, I hope your future will be better than ours.
- Colin Woolsey Ex Ldv Worker, Birmingham, Birmingham England
My Brother Robert Ansell works for IBC part of Vauxhall
Motors. I hope the plant is kept open.
- Terry Ansell, Hamilton New Zealand
Tragic news for Vauxhall, and to a lesser extent to Opel. Another car maker with a great history and tradition has just entered a countdown to doom.
- Tony, London
As GAZ / Depriska didnt have the cash to save LDV and that was only pence in comparison to this deal - where has he found the money
If I worked for Vauxhall I'd be looking for a ne wjob now before they go the same way as LDV
- Ralph Bailey, Birmingham, England
This could assist both IBC as well as LDV if the operations could be brought together and produce the "British" electric van that Mr Mandleson and Gordon Brown so desperately want to get the green foot in their door of this sector. Magna and Oleg would then get the funding they need and take the LDV technology to the Corsa and Astra market. This would surely put "Made in England" back on the map
- Malcolm Kemp, Sheerness
God help all at vauxhall / opel if Mr deripaska and GAZ are involved. They are not worthy of the product look at their record with the sebring / siber car. They bought that lock stock and barrel and modified a poor car into an even worse one that nobody wants
- Phil, birmingham
