PSA wants to sell part of the research center

At Opel, no peace comes back. Now workers are even threatening a strike. Reason: Significant areas of the Rüsselsheim Development Center (ITEZ) are sold or incorporated into a strategic partnership. Affected by this would be a little less than 4,000 of the roughly 7,500 ITEZ employees. This brings back the French newspaper "Le Monde". Neither Opel's new mother, French car maker PSA (Peugeot, Citroën) nor Opel wanted to comment on speculation on Wednesday. The Opel Gesamtbetriebsratsvorsitzende Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug reacts indignantly. Apparently, PSA told employees and IG Metall the falsity. "IG Metall and Opel will not tolerate such an attack at the heart of the Opel brand and the ITEZ job".

Apparently, there is already an agreement

Apparently, PSA has already agreed with the French service provider Altran on a sale of the zones. It is speculated on a purchase price of 500 million euros. The company is also known as the renowned engineering company Bertrandt of the Swabian town of Ehningen, specializing in the automotive industry. A spokesman for the company did not comment on the speculation.

Company Committee: It will cost the future of Opel

Schäfer-Klug, head of the Opel Enterprise Committee, according to a "sale" of the development d & # 39; Opel. "Opel's technological heart beats in engineering Production: The service and administration areas can not give Opel an identity without a development center". Thursday there will be a working meeting due to the recent development in Rüsselsheim, on which the boss of Opel Michael Lohscheller should take a stand

Opel speaks of strategic partnerships

The spokesman of Opel Nico Schmidt pointed out that the development center on the site of The Opel headquarters in Rüsselsheim also plays an important role in PSA and for 15 vehicles, projects are leading the overall group, including with regard to the fuel cell. "The engineering center will continue to develop all Opel models in the future." Schmidt admits, however, that in the coming years, orders will fall sharply. Reason: Engineers are still working on the orders of the old GM Opel-Mutter. But they will expire and new ones will not be available in the United States. Therefore, solutions must be sought with the employees side.

Restoration program with job security

Opel was taken over by PSA last August, which already included the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands. By the end of May, companies and employees had agreed to find a job until July 2023. He agreed with the company committee on the reduction nearly 4,000 jobs by 2020, to be done exclusively on a voluntary basis. This also applies to ITEZ employees. How exactly is not clear. Apparently, however, about 1,000 of the 7,500 jobs currently are canceled.

Automotive Expert: Serious Incision for Opel

Similar to the company committee, automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer sees a potential partial sale of ITEZ as an important cut for Opel. "PSA boss Carlos Tavares, German engineering and German cars seem to have a significantly lower value than he claims without saying it." His badurances that Opel will remain under PSA an independent car maker, seem to have been little honest and serious. Dudenhöffer told PSA that the sale of large parts of the ITEZ had already been planned during the resumption last summer. "The French have immediately clocked up with the hidden cards and the corporate committee that IG Metall seems to have been" blind. "According to Dudenhöffer, Opel is threatening to develop a PSA sales department with attachments.

Opel sells too little

Opel sales figures are still low, even though the company has tens of thousands of orders for its new models. in the first half of the year compared with the same period of the previous year, Opel recorded a decrease of 7.1% to 118,526 vehicles.) According to Dudenhöffer, a significant proportion of these registrations are self-registrations with a market share of 6.4% after 7.1% in the first half of 2017. Opel also continued to decline in Europe until May 2009. The PACE reorganization program could also include "strategic partnerships" in addition to internal organizational measures, "said a spokesperson on request.