Reprieve for German Opel

Source: Xinhua | 2017-02-20

FRENCH automaker PSA has pledged to keep Opel plants in Germany running if a planned merger goes forward, and to refrain from layoffs until at least 2019, a newspaper report said yesterday.

PSA, the parent company of France’s Peugeot, Citroen and DS, has confirmed it is interested in taking over Opel, the German arm of US giant General Motors.

But the plans have sparked fears in Germany that Peugeot will cut jobs that overlap with existing positions in France.

Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that Olivier Bourges, who sits on PSA’s executive committee, had assured German officials at a meeting at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office that contracts would be honored. They stipulate redundancies would be ruled out until the end of 2018.