Articles about Economy

Opel goes to Magna and Sberbank

The German car producer Opel will be taken over by Magna and Sberbank. The decision was taken yesterday. Yet, it was a decision of the General Motors representatives, both of them have voted for Magna. One of the German representatives voted against the plan and the other one abstained.

GM will retain 35% of Opel, 55% will go (in same parts) to Magna and Sberbank. 10% will belong to the employees of Opel.

Opel is said to be too small alone

Some people say that Opel is too small as an own company to survive on the world-wide market. They say that Opel has to sell at least 5 million cars each years to be able to compete with other car producers. At the moment Opel and its sister company Vauxhall sell 1.5 million cars per year, which should be increased by pushing onto the Russian market.

Negotiations took several months

Opel employees had to wait several months until they knew who would take over their company. At some locations people had to hope for a special investor, because otherwise their factories would have been closed. That the employees own a part of Opel could be a chance for the future, because it has already worked in other cases when companies seemed to collapse. Being able to decide which paths the company will take probably also leads to more dedication. This means that ideas and products will be even better than they have been.

Yet, everybody who is involved still has a lot of work to do to save Opel.