"We don't have to threaten anyone on the negative impact of failure. We didn't need to make that point, everybody knows it," Carl-Peter Forster, GM Europe CEO, was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.
Frederick Henderson, GM chief operating officer, said in a press conference at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show the company has 30 percent overcapacity in Europe and needs to act on it. What Henderson and Forster call their "plan B" -failure of GM Europe- can become a reality if the $4.18 billion aid request is not met.
"If we have to go to Plan B, there will be a massive reduction in employment of about 300,000 including dealers . The alternatives are very unhappy, whichever way you look at it," added Forster.
GM Europe's plan for survival depends on the company's ability to persuade European governments, especially the German one. The plan's provisions selling stakes in GM Europe in return for money. The stakes to be sold are not only in GM's German subsidiary Opel, but in the company as a whole.
The company presented its plan before Germany's government on Monday, while undergoing talks with Spain and Great Britain. Also as part of that plan, GM is considering closing up to four plants in Europe, including the struggling Swedish manufacturer Saab.
"It's a good plan, a good proposal, but ultimately it's a political decision if the industry emerges weaker or stronger from this recession," concluded Forster.
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