GM U-turn on Opel stirs German fear and loathing

So let me get this straight.

The original owner who's owned the whole thing since 1929 trial balloons the idea of spinning the division out, citing bankruptcy. This is viewed as catastrophe.

Thus begins the Groundhog Day-like process of the German government trying to find a buyer who'd agree to break every imaginable EU statute to fire non-German workers but keep all German jobs intact. However, once the elections are over, the prospective purchasing consortium raises the curtain on plans for massive job cuts, both overseas and in Germany. This is viewed as a catastrophe.

Now the original owner, doubtless somewhat concerned about lots of its IP going to the Russians, says things have gotten a bit better and that it now wants to maintain the status quo as best it can. This is viewed as a catastrophe.

What part of this whole saga hasn't been a "catastrophe?" What exactly would constitute a non-catastrophic outcome for the european subsidiary of a bankrupt US car maker? It strikes me as a much worse outcome if GM were to simply stop paying the electric bill and the lines ground to a halt.

In my humble opinion, GM should shut down their US manufacturing operations and just start importing its entire european Opel/Vauxhall product line-up unmodified back to the US, which would fix the problem for the next 20 years, but that's beside the point. When did companies suddenly become saddled with all sorts of perceived "social obligations" to keep people employed in moribund industries with massive worldwide overcapacity for fear that unemployed workers will walk around blowing whistles really loudly.

There have to be some GMers on this site with some insights on this whole mess.

Let me get this straight. It's OK for the state to control a company, but not so good if it's another state that controls the entity? If this means Opel would prefer a free-market, privately owned GM, then this is more than a bit of hypocricy.

The first situation was a catastrophe until pre-election jitters forced the German government to break EU laws by promising billions in handouts, thus turning catastrophe into Christmas. Now Christmas has been cancelled and it's back to catastrophe. Vauxhall in the UK was never promised Christmas and so they've moved from catastrophe to not catastrophe, which is why today's announcement has been welcomed by the British.

Why not the German government nationalise Opel.

Germany didn't break any EU rules at all -- governments are allowed to offer aid to companies in distress. The aid also wasn't just purely from Germany either -- all the countries where Opel has factories were to contribute to the 4.5 billion in loan guarantees. Where Germany went wrong was pushing so hard for Magna, who was clearly one of the worst choices. GM does have plenty of culpability here for agreeing to sell Opel to Magna. This is obvious since they did it not only once but twice.

This whole thing is also a prime example of why Opel hates GM -- they get no respect from their parent and never have though they deserve some.

If GM had been serious, the right way probably would have been a partial nationalisation of Opel or a temporary sale to a financial investor who could have made tough cuts and then sold it back to GM.

Stop ranting about breaking EU laws -- they didn't.

I applaud General Motors for not selling Opel to Russia?s Sherbank and the Canadian auto parts supplier Magna. Come on Germany!! In the past (short) 20 years have you forgotten everything?? Russia is a country that wants your auto industry and your auto technology. This, after it kept half of Germany walled in for 50 years, and reduced the former East Germany and it?s people to the equivalent of a third world country. This is the same country that froze millions of people in their own homes last winter in their former Soviet satellite counties by turning off the natural gas. This simply for their inability to pay a substantial increase (in some cases double) for the price of that gas. Did any German worker who now criticizes the sale of Opel travel to the Czech Republic, Poland or Hungry in the early years following the fall of the wall? The dilapidated homes, apartment buildings, the horrible condition of highways and roads, and closed factories that produced little if nothing. This is the legacy that Russia left those countries.

As an American who has lived here for well over 20 years, I can tell you no good would come from the sale of Opel to a foreign investment firm. As in the United States, which has seen much of it?s industry disappear to China and Mexico, this will happen to Germany as well if it is not stopped now. The German worker must think long term and not just for tomorrow.

Does anyone remember Eisenach in the early 90?s after the fall of the wall? At 17:00 when the Wartburg factory closed for the day, the entire city was an air pollution disaster, as two cycle Wartburg engines belched blue exhaust fumes, making breathing almost impossible for most of the cities inhabitants. The Wartburg autowerke was a dilapidated poor excuse for a factory by any modern standards. Now in Eisenach you have a sprawling, state of the art, Opel factory producing high efficient and nearly pollution free automobiles. And yet now General Motors is being criticized simply because of the down turn in business due to the global economic crisis.

In an article I read last week it stated that Russia?s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin was looking into the legality of General Motors decision not to sell Opel. The simple fact is that, if General Motors does not want to sell, they do not have to sell. Why would Mr. Putin be so concerned if a Russian bank was investing in a foreign auto company anyway? I can tell you why. He wants Opel?s to be produced in Russia, which will employ the Russian worker and bring new industry to Russia, while eventually closing factories here in Germany and throughout Europe. If anyone is so naïve as to think otherwise they are not thinking down the road. If Russia can put a man in space they can build a car without Opel?s help.

In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lashed out at GM. "We will have to take into account this style of dealing with partners in the future, though this scornful approach toward partners mainly affects the Europeans, not us," Putin told a cabinet meeting in Moscow. "GM did not warn anyone, did not speak to anyone ... despite all the agreements reached and documents signed. Well, I think it is a good lesson."

As reported in Frankfurter Allgemeine last Monday, according to Magna's plan, ?over ?600 million of the state aid being promised to Opel would be heading straight to Russia, where it would be used to help modernize the aging and outmoded Russian auto industry.? "This means that German technology will be going to Russia -- which will mean redundancies in Germany at a later date anyway,"

The headlines of many German newspapers scorned GM for backing out of the sale to Magna. ?10,000 jobs will be lost,? the front pages had in large bold print. Yet on page two of the same paper, in the lower left corner, a small article says that Daimler Benz will lay off 1000 workers as a result of the same global crisis facing General Motors.

I am an American, and I can say that I feel the American government is not perfect by any means nor without fault in many global affairs. However, we must all remember that for 50 years, the United States had at times 300,000 soldiers here in Germany protecting Germany from a possible Soviet invasion. The cost to the American taxpayer and government for this protection must be a staggering figure, far exceeding any monies being talked about in the sale or no sale of Opel. So I applaud General Motors for trying to keep German and U.S. technology where it belongs!!