Retuers report that for the year, Opel reported a loss of $700 million. GM originally aimed for its Opel unit to break even but abandoned that target in November as demand there deteriorated.
"We clearly have work to do in Europe," GM Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann told reporters. Continuing saying that GM has not gone far enough in cutting costs at Opel, but he declined to provide a 2012 financial forecast.
As reported earlier, this was Opel's twelth consecutive year of loss.
Unfortunately for GM and Opel, cost cutting in Europe will take time. To cut costs negotations with the unons must be held and that will take a matter of months and not weeks reports Reuters.
"I expect this not to happen in a month or so, rather than in a couple of months, that's at least how I see the timetable," Opel Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke told reporters on Thursday during a conference call.
Stracke said he aimed to raise the utilization of Opel's vehicle production capacity to a 100 percent on a three shift basis. At the time being only two thirds of the capacity is being utlized.
He declined to comment on whether he intended to achieve the increase either by taking capacity out or shifting overseas production of cars sold in Europe under the Chevrolets or Opel to some of his underutilized factories.
"Our plants have been anticipated to be utilized three shifts in the future and utilized at 100 percent," he said.
The Opel workers are clearly aiming at the latter. But first of all they want to stop the import of Asian built Opel cars.
"In order to fully use the capacity of the European plants, the planned import of Opel/Vauxhall vehicles from other global regions to Europe needs to be reconsidered," said the Chairman of the German Group Works Council Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug according to Reuters.
In other words, the negotaitons between the Opel management and the unions will be tough. And as usual the cost cuts will probably not be tough enough and Opel will continue to strive to achieve profits.
The question is this: For how long will the American taxpayers be happy paying the salaries of the German Opel workers?
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