General Motors' stock hit an all-time low today of $31 and change.
The media, as well, hyped the IPO and practically proclaimed the Chevy Volt as being a savior for GM. Neither the stock performance nor the Volt is living up to expectations. The risks now are greater than ever.
GM's European division, Opel, continues to struggle and weigh on profitability. It may take a while, if at all, for Opel to become profitable.
The Chevrolet Volt will go on sale in Europe at a price cheaper than that of its rebadged cousin the Opel Ampera, General Motors has announced.
AllCarsElectric's Antony Ingram said that the most obvious difference is in the styling, with the Volt clearly a Chevrolet but the Ampera looking like no other current Opel and featuring a far more distinctive front.
Apart from some further interior cosmetic alterations, the rest of the car is essentially the same, leading Motorward to comment that it's getting hard to understand Chevrolet's pricing policy for the Volt.
"This is one of the worst players in Europe, which is already the worst car market in the world."
GM Europe President Nick Reilly faces high costs in trying to revive Opel.
"Opel is worse than you think it is''
GM Europe incurred a loss of $1.8 billion in 2010, GM's only region to be unprofitable as the auto maker last week reported its largest annual profit in more than a decade.
Mr. Jonas estimates Opel will remain a drain on its parent even when profitable because of a large cash requirement and high operating costs. Even if Opel were to report a slim profit, it would probably continue to burn cash, he said.
GM's gains in emerging markets, however, have been dampened by its troubles in Europe, where its losses deepened last year.
The Opel Corsa D model years 2007 to 2009, has a problem that could lead to the brakes being engaged permanently and the brake rotors overheat. The cause is a plastic bearing in the pedal rack that deforms when the foot well is heated by the car's heating and ventilation system, and this prevents the brake pedal from returning to the starting position. The fault is not safety related, claims Opel spokesman Manfred Daun.
Opel is up to its eyeballs in losses.
[...]
With 8,000 jobs to go and to be paid off, there will be monstrous losses in 2011. Who knows what will happen in 2012.
If it wouldn’t be for Opel, GM would be in hog heaven. Back home, GM makes money. In China, GM sells more cars than ever. Everything divvy in South America and the rest of the world. [...] Buyers of stock are looking at future performance, and the cash drain of Opel will have a serious effect on the take from the IPO.
If you dig into the numbers, they still have a problem in Europe. They are doing worse than when we looked at them two years ago, and it’s going to take a lot of cash to fix Opel. That’s my concern on the IPO.So GM has two alternatives: Keep pumping money into the big black Opel hole, or get rid of Opel and be rich!
Now Opel wants to expand to China from 2011, and then to Israel, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Argentina and the Middle East.
For years, GM has stopped Opel from investing outside Europe and instead made the Chevrolet and Buick brands strong in China, Russia or Brazil.
"If we go to Asia and especially China, it will happen at the expense of Chevrolet. So just how much freedom to act will GM give us?" asks a concerned management source.
Parent company General Motors is back in the hands of private investors, and that's a promise of nothing good for Opel, according to the Financial Times Germany. Now Opel must make a profit or perish in the attempt.
The losses at Opel leaves the American parent company GM with resentment. The chief strategist said in an interview that the European subsidiary must soon show profits and present ideas on how this goal is achieved.
In one of the brightest moments in the history of General Motors , it is pitch-dark at Opel.
The fear is back in Rüsselsheim. Opel barely survived the severe economic crisis. The threat of insolvency, the tough negotiations for a new owner, the haggling over government aid has damaged the image of GM's heavy. Opel's loss swells to 1.4 billion euros in 2010, the market share in Germany decreased from 8.5 to 7.5 percent. In 1995 Opel's market share was twice as big.
General Motors Co. hired consulting firm Alix Partners to speed up the turnaround of its troubled European Opel and Vauxhall brands, according to a person familiar with the matter.
GM Europe posted a $559 million loss in last year's third quarter and $1.2 billion loss in the January-to-September period, making it the firm's only money-losing region.
Opel macht seit 2003 nur noch Verlust (Opel has from 2003 only lost money.)
General Motors Co.’s money-losing Opel brand overtook Fiat SpA with the steepest discounts in Germany last month as the unit seeks to halt a drop in sales.
“The Opel brand, which was already weakened by quality issues, has suffered considerable damage in the year-and-a-half- long aid pursuit,” said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.Bad quality = dissatisfied owners
“The only way for Opel/Vauxhall to sell anything is to slash prices,” Simon Empson, managing director of U.K. discount car website Broadspeed.com, said in a telephone interview, adding that Vauxhall is offering discounts of more than 25 percent, including on the new Astra. “They’re not selling. There’s no interest.”
"In total (for 2010) we are looking at a loss of about 2.0 billion dollars or 1.4 billion euros"According to Opel head Nick Reilly, the Opel is stearing into a loss of 1.4 billion euros in 2010. This is a huge amount!
Opel, which operates under the Vauxhall brand in Britain, has been in difficulties for years and its market share has fallen.
Although Opel was expected to perform better now under the guidance of the "new" General Motors, the German brand predicts a drop of 9 percent this year
