GM to hold onto Opel and Vauxhall

GM has announced that it is to hold onto European car divisions Opel and Vauxhall for the foreseeable future.

The decision has been met with welcome response from UK union leaders, who feared job losses.

‘This is an incredible turnaround from General Motors,’ Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary for Unite said in a statement. ‘I am absolutely delighted with this news. It is fantastic news for the UK and right that General Motors does not break up its family and instead retains ownership of Vauxhall.’

Woodley noted that GM supports more than 20,000 jobs and 400 component companies in the UK.

GM had previously announced that it was planning to sell European operations to Canadian car-parts maker, Magna, and Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank. The German government had shepherded a plan where Magna and Sberbank were reportedly prepared to put up €500m (£450m) for equal stakes of 27.5 per cent in Opel, the German division of GM.