RUESSELSHEIM, Germany - An Opel plant in Belgium faces an uncertain future as General Motors moves to restructure its European operations, a drive expected to cost some 9,000 jobs across the continent, a top executive said yesterday.
Nick Reilly, the head of GM Europe, detailed GM’s plans to employee representatives from Opel and sister brand Vauxhall. He stressed that action is needed because “the competition in this industry is intense and getting fiercer every day.’’
“Overall, we are going to reduce our capacity by around 20 percent, and we expect to reduce the number of people by approximately 9,000,’’ he told reporters. He said that “probably between 50 and 60 percent’’ of the cuts would be in Germany.
