Bochum's sigh of relief

The production facility of crisis-stricken carmaker Opel in Bochum, Germany, is safe until at least 2014. Continuing losses had fuelled concern that parent company General Motors was about to close the Bochum plant as part of restructuring efforts.

The regional government in the western German state of Northrhine Westphalia said in a statement on Tuesday that the plant would not be closed before 2014.

"Opel sticks to all its commitments regarding the Bochum facility," Northrhine Westphalia's Economics Minister Harry Voigtsberger said after a meeting with Opel chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Opel ruled out the plant's closure and compulsory layoffs until 2014, but said restructuring within the company would have to continue.

GM's problem child

GM announced recently that it posted record profits in 2011, as sales grew in the United States and China. But its European division, comprising Opel and Vauxhall, remained the company's trouble spot, logging losses of $747 million (570 million euros) last year.

GM Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Akerson said the company would reduce production in Europe as a consequence.

"We have to match capacity with demand, and demand has been falling," Akerson said in a conference call with reporters. However, GM failed to specify where exactly cuts in Europe would be made in the near future.

Opel hopes it will be able to reverse the negative trend soon, not least by pushing developments in the field of electromobility.

hg/ai (AFP, Reuters)