Photo: Opel
General Motors’ European division comprises of two iconic brands - Opel and Vauxhall. In recent years, both of them struggled to sell vehicles for pretty obvious reasons - while competitors got a whole lot better at design, technology and even the oily bits, General Motors Europe was left way behind.
As a whole, Opel and Vauxhall products of today are at the heels of other volume carmakers from Europe. It’s easy to understand why the two brands lost and keep losing money from General Motors’ small coffer. When I say small coffer, I’m referring to the big costs associated with the 80 recalls GM performed in 2014.
Discussions about closing an Opel plant located in Bochum, Germany started in early 2012, when the first serious financial problems started to occur at General Motors Europe. Back then, the General Motors management from the Old Continent told that GM “will not allocate further product to the Bochum site after the run-out of the current Zafira.”
Opelwerk Bochum’s 3,280-strong workforce will be offered around $100 million in compensation for this saddening closure, but approximately 300 employees will continue to work at a parts depot that will continue to operate in a part of the complex, as The Detroit Bureau points out.
With the demise of Bochum, Opel is left with only 3 plants: Russelsheim, Kaiserlautern and Eisenach.
Discussions about closing an Opel plant located in Bochum, Germany started in early 2012, when the first serious financial problems started to occur at General Motors Europe. Back then, the General Motors management from the Old Continent told that GM “will not allocate further product to the Bochum site after the run-out of the current Zafira.”
Although that was supposed to happen in 2016, GM just announced the plant is now closed.
In continuous operation since 1962, the Bochum plant started its 52-year existence by producing the Opel Kadett A. Fast forward to 2011 and Opel invested a whopping 175 million euros to prepare the site for making the Opel / Vauxhall Zafira C people carrier.Opelwerk Bochum’s 3,280-strong workforce will be offered around $100 million in compensation for this saddening closure, but approximately 300 employees will continue to work at a parts depot that will continue to operate in a part of the complex, as The Detroit Bureau points out.
With the demise of Bochum, Opel is left with only 3 plants: Russelsheim, Kaiserlautern and Eisenach.
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