Shut German GM plants and supply that market with French-made Opels?
According to the Wall Street Journal, the German firm said that GM's numbers were boosted by adding sales of its Chinese partners.
In a new Bild am Sonntag poll, 66% of Germans opposed any more (German) state aid for GM.
So how did U.S. taxpayers end up holding the tab for the failed turnaround of Opel AG, a German carmaker wholly owned by GM?
FORBES: Why Are U.S. Taxpayers Still Footing The Bill To Fix A German Automaker?
The Saturn Vue and Astra are from GM's German Opel division.
Opel has been placed under the ownership of a trustee in which both GM and the German government have a stake - making the process of deciding a buyer complex.
After the decision was announced, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle called GM's behaviour "totally unacceptable", while Christine Lieberknecht, the premier of Thuringia state, which hosts an Opel plant, called the decision a "low blow".
GM's big German subsidiary, Adam Opel, is already indicating that it will offer discounts on its new Astra model, to be launched in April, which will compete head-on with Volkswagen's new Golf itself already being discounted.
And it works the other way too: Our BMW worker going off into the woods to cut firewood for the winter has less environmental impact (given the size of German forests at least) than our GM one staying on the production line and using the money to buy heating oil for the winter.
FORBES: What Environmental Benefits Of Working Shorter Hours?
In doing so, Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that Opel be placed in a trust to protect GM's 25, 000 German jobs and to ensure that no German tax dollars get into the hands of U.S. stakeholders.
General Motors ( GM - news - people ) and the German government.
Ford is bringing in slightly Americanised versions of saloon cars that have been successful in Europe, while GM plans to do the same with versions of its German-designed Opels.
Government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said Berlin regretted the decision, adding that it wanted GM to repay 1.5bn euros in bridge financing extended by German banks.
Furthermore, GM's European Opel unit, which failed to obtain a viable bidder or a bailout from the German government, remains a cash-guzzler, having lost over a billion dollars since the company emerged from bankruptcy last year.
应用推荐