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Fiat confirms Opel deal interest
Interesting, I would like to be fly on the wall during that meeting!
would be nice to think Ferrari as part of the the same familyferrari F50 and the vectra will be step brothers !!!!! i bet no one would have predicted that ??????
Fiat have already been bankrupt once haven't they? This is just GM trying to offload its European business at any cost (i.e. probably nothing).
Don't see much future for the Vauxhall brand if this happens - just loads of plant closures.
Is the european business not the part that makes money though?
If it is they will hardly give it away
If they don't virtually give it away, then Fiat won't be able to buy it. Although it might make money, GM would no longer have to look at future development costs, and I'm afraid to say, the costs of closing plants to slim down the European operation.
I think there's a lot of politics in this. GM are under huge pressure to cut costs by US govt if they are to receive US state aid - and European side of business off-loaded would mean major reduction in long-term investment costs. I know this is all short-term and short-sighted, but that's how business works when things are in a total mess which, overall, GM is.
The facts are, that GM Europe are profitable, but GM USA are sucking the money out to support them, which makes GM Europe operate in a financially difficult position.
GM Europe (Opel/Vauxhall) are in the process (If not completed aready) of setting up a new company, possibly to be called Opel/Vauxhall Europe or continue as GM Europe to protect them if GM USA goes bust.
The idea is that if and when GM USA goes under, it can't take Opel/Vauxhall or the car plants etc with them. This seperation is one of the reasons the 2.7 and 2.9 V6 diesel engines have been dropped, they were a US project, where the 2.0's are European.
What Vauxhall/Opel are looking for is investors like many other companies do. It would not be a case of Fiat stripping Vauxhall/Opel for the parts and shutting plants, what is the point in that.
Vauxhall/Opel will still need the current car plants to build the cars. Fiat are interested because Vauxhall/Opel are a very good company from an automotive engineering point of view.
Personally I think it would be fantastic to get Vauxhall/Opel under European ownership, and not the Americans.
it said in the news that fiat would want to create one big company rather than a load of smaller companies,it did say that vauxhall were worried about plant closures
So what would happen to Vauxhall should Opel become part of Fiat? I assume the two would either part ways or would Fiat take Vx too?
Gazza4
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