Opel mulls Citroen C5 production in Germany, report says
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BERLIN -- General Motors Co.'s European unit, Opel/Vauxhall, has offered to build PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's C5 sedan in Ruesselsheim, Germany, to compensate workers for lost production of the Astra, a German newspaper said.
Production of the Citroen C5 mid-sized car at Opel's biggest factory would offset plans to pull the Astra compact car from Ruesselsheim and build the new-generation Astra only in Ellesmere Port, England, and Gliwice, Poland, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Saturday.
The Ruesselsheim factory, near Frankfurt, builds the Opel Insignia mid-sized model.
An Opel spokesman said the company is considering future production strategy, though decisions have not yet been taken. CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke will brief workers at a staff meeting on Monday about the carmaker's business, he added.
Last week, Jean-Luc Perrard, head of PSA's factory in Rennes, France, told a regional newspaper that production of the replacement C5 will move to a GM plant, but did not name the factory.
As part of a partnership announced in February, GM and PSA have previously said that mid-sized cars such as the Opel Insignia and Citroen C5 and Peugeot 508 would draw on GM platforms while subcompacts such as the Opel Corsa and Citroen C3 would be based on PSA technology.
New-car sales are falling during the eurozone crisis and PSA and Opel both have too much production capacity.
GM CEO Dan Akerson and Opel Chairman Steve Girsky have been pushing Stracke hard to lower costs to end losses at the U.S. automaker's European operations.
Sources: Reuters and Automotive News Europe
