THE future of car-maker Vauxhall could be up for discussion at this week’s G20 summit, as parent company General Motors continues its efforts to save itself from bankruptcy.
GM’s new chief executive Fritz Henderson last night warned it will have to close more US plants and make more job losses as it battles to stave off the threat of a break-up.
GM Europe, which employs 2,000 people at Vauxhall, in Ellesmere Port, is developing its own restructuring plan that would see it become a standalone company – but it says it needs more than £3bn in support from European governments.
The bulk of that support would come from Germany, where most of GM Europe’s business is based.
Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would help GM Europe find the new investors it needed to lessen its dependence on its struggling US parent.
World leaders are gathering in London today for the G20 summit and the US, Germany and the UK are set to debate the future of GM as each government battles to preserve jobs.
Ms Merkel, who visited one of Vauxhall sister company Opel’s German plants yesterday, said she would step up efforts to protect German interests in talks with GM and the US government.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has already said he wants to help preserve jobs at Vauxhall.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform told LDP Business yesterday that the Government would decide what aid it could offer Vauxhall once it was presented with GM Europe’s final restructuring proposals within the next few weeks.
