General Motors’ board of directors has done a massive u-turn and decided not to sell Vauxhall/Opel to Canadian car parts supplier Magna International. The move infuriated German politicians who had lent GM a 1.5billion euro bridging loan to support the sale of Opel and therefore save German jobs as it included a guarantee that no German factory would be closed.

GM will instead keep the Vauxhall/Opel brand and restructure it. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is already planning talks with GM over the 600 voluntary redundancies at Vauxhall’s UK plants and how the deal reversal affects them and the 4,900 other UK workers producing models such as the Astra. … continue reading ‘GM slams Vauxhall/Opel deal into reverse’