So it's currently at Opel

Rüsselsheim
/ Paris

Half a billion euros in profits were withdrawn from Opel in the first half, considering decades of losses and public strife with the union, it's almost a sensation. A year after the takeover by the French group PSA, the traditional brand seems to have found the way to success

However, the jubilation is always mixed with concerns about the future profile of the company and, finally, the security of employment. Opel boss Michael Lohscheller and his CEO Carlos Tavares have kept their word and rebuilt General Motors (GM) for € 1.3 billion worth of automaker acquired without site closure or operational redundancies. Group purchases, lower fixed costs and the focus on real revenues per vehicle contributed to a rapid recovery, despite declining market shares.

After lengthy debates, a collective bargaining agreement was concluded with the union and the remaining 14,000 jobs will be guaranteed until 2023 and will also limit the reduction of staff to 3,700. Unions have also agreed to financial cuts on other Opel European sites.

Opel realized operating profits – with no extraordinary costs, taxes and interest – with a fleet of vehicles more than 80% developed under the aegis of GM – with the flagship Insignia currently crowned with success. This was planned as the current models of volume Corsa and Astra quite essential and with a lot of effort in Rüsselsheim and then sent under other names in the vast GM world, of course, with taking on the shelves of a global group. Opel calls the projectiles, it turns in the other direction: Most of the technologies of the first models and the new Corsa planned for 2019 come from PSA, the Opel give to the cars, for example, with the adjustment of the suspension and their own design elements a German finish. Opel threatened to become a PSA design cover, criticized the automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.

"Germanness" to emit future Opel models, however, says PSA CEO Tavares – and stands for solidity, efficiency and dynamic dynamics, such as electric. The latter claimed Lohscheller now compared to Tagesspiegel: "We are in a major electric offensive," he said. "From here until 2024, we will have electrified our entire offer.It is a giant step." German engineering is admired around the world, says Tavares.

"Opel becomes even more German than ever," said Lohscheller. Rüsselsheim will answer for each Opel and will deal centrally with important topics such as the fuel cell, seats or a new family of gasoline engines for the whole group. Of the more than 7,000 engineers at the Rüsselsheim development center that he needs for this, the Opel boss has remained open until now. It is also not known with which projects the factories of Eisenach and Kaiserslautern are to be used.