Well, will they, or won’t they? The rumour mill has been going on about talk that potential buyers are looking to take Opel off General Motors’ hands, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding being one name bandied about.
Now, GM’s CEO Daniel Akerson has assured the head of Opel that the American automaker was not in talks to sell the European arm to a rival, according to reports. German newspaper Handelsblatt had originally reported that Akerson spoke with Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke on the telephone.
The media has been speculating that GM is considering putting Opel and its UK sister brand Vauxhall up for sale – with Volkswagen and BAIC named as possible buyers – because Akerson is impatient with the slow pace of restructuring at the money-losing division, which lost US$1.6 bil last year. .
GM has so far not commented on the reports, despite calls to do so, but people familiar with the matter have revealed that GM was reviewing options for the European automaker, the reports add. Going with the above, it would seem VW won’t be in the picture should GM decide to sell Opel.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Why would VW want such a company? Opel/Vauxhall is only doing well enough in europe and VW already has VW, Skoda and Seat to do the job there. It has no impact in Asia and americas. VW might as well invest more in suzuki which controls the indian market.
They want to be the biggest car manufacturer in the world, overtaking Toyota.
One way to go about doing it is to buy up other car company.
maybe proton want to buy
What shall VW do with the Opel brand?
Since the infamous Astra ‘A’, in Europe the Opel brand is THE synonym for an unreliable, fast rusting car of low quality. It’s market share in Europe dropped to now 8.4% only (VW: 20.8%), in 1972 it’s share was 20.4% and ahead of VW…
Ugh, VAG, enough already. Instead of continuously looking for other makes to purchase, how about putting some effort into giving the Skoda brand the image that it deserves? It’s a fantastic car, highly underrated by many.
i think it would be a disaster for GM if it sold the German unit….judging by the fact that most of the modern technology that Gm employs across all its brands stem from Opel …..stuff like modern downzised turbo engines to compete with the Ford ecoboosts and the excellent V W turbo mills, modern suspensions and manufacturing techniques….
its basically the engineering hq for Gm and selling it may be beneficial in the short term ultimately be a bad decision…it is probably the only brand in the portfolio thats capable of producing modern cars for the mass market they way ford and V W can…letting it go will be a huge mistake on their part…