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Three GM Europe Plants Risk Closure

The rush for cash the American company is involved in could result in the closing of three or more plants in Europe. The measure could be taken as part of the company's goal to reach 1.6 billion dollars cost cuts in order to avoid collapse.

“There are at least three plants seriously in question,” a person familiar with the matter told Autonews. The plants in question are most likely the ones located in Antwerp (Belgium), Ellesmere Port (Britain) and at least one of the plants in Germany.

“We are working through a very difficult situation. We are speaking with labor to come up with a solution. We have nothing to announce at present,” Chris Preuss, GM Europe spokesman was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

General Motors hopes the measures will help them cut production by a third, in order to scale it down to the new market demand conditions. As part of the same plan, GM is still trying to rid itself of the Swedish Saab factory.

The company's leaderships is feeling the pressure of the report they are due to present tomorrow before the US Government. The viability report is vital to the acceptance of the second bailout payment to be made to GM.

The US manufacturer has in mind, as part of the same plan, the scrapping of its Saturn brand. Bob Lutz, soon to be former Vice Chairman, said "My personal favorite would be to see Saturn survive and prosper, but frankly, the reality is that that is probably not going to be the outcome."

We all look forward to tomorrow's developments. The need for money aside, GM success in securing another Federal loan could make the difference between life as we know it and unemployment on a massive scale. We will continue to keep you up to date throughout the following days.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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