Posted on 06/26/2004 6:17:27 AM PDT by Grzegorz 246
General Motors, the US carmaker, angered German trade unions on Friday by announcing that its Opel subsidiary would expand production of its new Zafira family car in Poland rather than at Rüsselsheim, its main German factory.
The announcement comes a week after GM reorganised its European operations, which also include the Saab and Vauxhall brands, to centralise control in Zürich, Switzerland. Opel said its works in Gliwice, Poland, offered "significant competitive advantages" compared with the group's other production facilities.
Production of the Zafira in Gliwice will be in addition to that in Bochum, Germany, it said.
The expansion by GM in Poland is a boost for car manufacturing in eastern Europe and coincides with moves by DaimlerChrysler, the German-US automotive group, to negotiate cost-efficiency measures at its Mercedes factories in Germany. Erich Klemm, head of DaimlerChrysler's workers council, has warned 10,000 jobs could be threatened if the way was not paved for additional investment in new Mercedes models.
GM confirmed its decision to build the Zafira in Poland was linked to Warsaw's agreement to buy fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, under which the US side committed itself to boosting investment into the Polish economy.
But the Opel workers' council said the decision had been taken "on purely political considerations". Its statement said: "It is economically wrong and directed against Germany as an investment location and the employees of Adam Opel."
Account had not been taken of the commitments the workers' council was prepared to make to boost the competitiveness of the Rüsselsheim site.
Last week Klaus Franz, head of Opel's workers' council, said the decision on Zafira production would be a test of the new GM Europe management structure, which saw Carl-Peter Forster, Opel's head, promoted to president of GM Europe.
Let's see now -Poland is our ally, Germany is not. Good for Poland.
There was a time, back in the early 70s, when Opels were the hot import in the US. A pal in Iowa City had a 1.1 liter 2 door Kadett that would wind to 7500 rpm and hit 100 in a heartbeat. They got bigger, uglier and slower after that.
Zafira???.. Sounds like it is designed for the car-bomber market?.. you know.."spacious, concealed compartments...etc"
Let's see, Germany was capitalist, quickly moving toward communist. Poland was communist quickly moving toward capitalism. I'd make the same decision GM made.
Germany is the past, Poland is the future of central Europe.
We bought a new Opel Kadett station wagon in 1965 for $1695 and drove it all over Texas and then to Alaska. Drove it all around Anchorage and the outlying areas going hunting, fishing and camping. Then when we went to Okinawa we shipped it over there. It had an 8 gal gas tank and we would get about 350 miles to a tank. After we got to Okinawa the gas gauge broke so we knew we had to keep track of the miles. Only ran out of gas once. When we left we sold it to a young GI and weren't back in the States more than a month when we wished we had it back. It was a great little car.
Thanks....cute little bugger...but the name Zafira sounds Arabic, doesn't it?
Its only 'right' that economic-dollars be spent in a country that has shown itself to be a cooperative, grateful ally rather than an obstructionist ingrate.
I had a '68 Kadett wagon. I miss it.
Germany is slowly discovering that when you bad mouth the folks that feed you ,you might miss a few meals. Now get the rest of our troops out.
We had an Opel and my husband's brother put a racing motor in it. It was a small car and you should have seen the looks on drivers' faces when I could outrace them. It was a lot of fun.
The notion seems right, but have you ever loaned money to a family member?
There's politics and there's business and in each case you have to decide which is the priority. Sure we have to follow Divine Law without compromise in all cases, but I have no problem with the fact that the computer I'm using has chips made in China. Moving the Opel plant to Poland makes sense because the Poles are willing to work and the Germans aren't. The fact that business coincides with politics (and it usually does) is a side benefit.
Anyone who disagrees with me is not allowed post a reply unless their computer does not have chips made in China.
Good for Poland. I'm thinking that Poland will one day be our best friend on the European continent.
bump for later read
Germany doesn't like our politics, doesn't particularly like Americans and we are only responding in kind. What's the problem? I think they have sucked enough of our blood.
We put a low-rpm supercharger (not a turbo) on a Dodge Omni some years ago. You should have seen the Corvette drivers' eyes bug out when they were out-accelerated by an Omni.
Looks like GM knows who our real friends are. Good for Poland- good for GM.
But I still love my BMW. :)
Where can I buy a Daimler Dhimmi?
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