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Ford Would Not Be Happy if GM Went Bankrupt in Europe

Ford of Europe fully supports the European division of General Motors to get the requested funds and survive the economic downturn, CEO John Fleming told Automotive News Europe. Basically, Fleming says a potential bankruptcy of General Motors would have a big impact on suppliers in the automotive industry and would affect other automakers as well.

"We have no objections to competitors asking governments for support in these very difficult times. Given the weakness of suppliers, it would put a huge stress on the industry. We are in a pretty weakened state already," Ford of Europe said.

Fleming once again showed fair-play when talking about GM's current difficult situation, emphasizing that Ford would prefer to boost its sales by launched better products and not by luring GM's consumers into its models.

"I wouldn't be rubbing my hands at all [if GM goes bankrupt in Europe]," said Fleming. "I would rather take sales from competitors by having better products rather than them going out of business."

On the other hand, Volkswagen said that government should not get involved in Opel's business. "The state should stay away from it," Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn told German weekly Der Spiegel.

General Motors' German unit Opel last month demanded a 2.6 billion euros funding package to get through 2011. After sending the viability plan to the German government in late February, GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said that "the discussion with governments is being driven by the exceptionally weak economic situation that has seriously eroded consumer demand for vehicles and shut-out the availability of credit for financing operations."
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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