European comeback for Ellesmere Port veteran

Nov 11 2009 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

A FORMER plant director of the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port is taking interim charge of parent company General Motors’ European division.

GM announced last week that it was to keep hold of its European arm, which includes the Vauxhall and Opel brands. The group has planned to sell the division as part of a massive restructuring programme.

Yesterday GM announced that Nick Reilly, its executive vice-president and president of its international operations, would immediately take charge of the European operations.

He will lead the division until a new chief executive is appointed.

GM announced last week that its previous European president, Carl-Peter Forster, was to leave the business. Reports have suggested that he has been approached to take a senior role at Jaguar Land Rover owner, Tata Motors.

Mr Reilly joined GM in 1975. He was plant director at Vauxhall Ellesmere Port, which employs 2,100 people, from 1990 to 1994.

He served as chairman and managing director of Vauxhall Motors from 1996 to 2001 before becoming chief executive of GM company Daewoo in South Korea.

GM president and chief executive Fritz Henderson said: “As we announced last Tuesday, Opel/Vauxhall will remain a fully-integrated member of the New GM family, a decision that is in the best interests of Opel/Vauxhall, its customers, employees, other stakeholders and GM.

“With his deep experience with the Opel and Vauxhall brands, Nick is well suited to lead this transition and to work toward the earliest possible normalisation of the business.”

Before last week’s decision, GM had been set to sell its European arm to Canadian car parts giant Magna.

Its decision to retain Vauxhall was cautiously welcomed by UK unions, though GM still expects to cut thousands of jobs from its 50,000-strong European workforce.