Germany announced that it is willing to provide support to the Canadian - Austrian partsmaker, in return for the new Opel owner to keep local plants open. A couple of leaked documents are claiming that Magna is looking to eliminate 10,500 jobs in Europe, 4,000 of which to be based in Germany.
However, the plant in Antwerp, Belgium and two UK factories belonging to Vauxhall are currently at risk, with officials of the involved parties still negotiating on the matter.
Magna is already talking with union leaders in the United Kingdom, as it is believed the parent company plans to cut around 1,400 jobs in the country.
"I hope he will have good discussions with union leaders," he said while talking about the meeting between Magna's co-CEO Siegfried Wolf and unions. "They're looking for hard information and strong assurance of the future viability of Vauxhall's plants. We've given support in the past to Vauxhall for development of their green car and I'm prepared to consider that further."
As for the Antwerp plant, GM's CEO Fritz Henderson admitted at the Frankfurt show last month that the factory is at risk but a decision is yet to be made.
"We looked at it in detail but it just didn't make sense based on our own internal analysis," he said. "That plant has been under evaluation for some time; no final decision has been taken. But it's certainly at risk."
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