PSA comes through: Opel apparently wants to almost halve staff in Eisenach
The dealers of the car manufacturer Opel are used to grief. With a return on sales of a meager 1.1 percent, in 2016 alone they were behind many competitors. For a long time, however, low revenues have no longer been a reason for a lousy mood: Opel dealers are even more than satisfied with their business in the industry comparison.
This is shown, for example, by the most recent brand monitor, for which the Institute of Automotive Industry (IFA) polls traders year after year.
“Resigned satisfaction”, IFA director Stefan Reindl calls the attitude of many Opel dealers. From the point of view of Carlos Tavares, many traders are too self-satisfied. The boss of the French auto giant PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, Opel) wants to drive them. “Maximum pressure” is his maxim. The goal of Tavares: He wants to lead Opel after almost 20 years with recurring recurring losses from the red.
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Tavares has long been in the grip of works councils, trade unions and politics, who is watching his recovery plan for the Rüsselsheim carmaker, which has been part of PSA’s brand range since August 2017, with suspicion. Now he also takes the 1600 dealers in the shortage. Opel announced the contracts to all European partners, The trade network should become more efficient. It wants to improve the “efficiency in all areas,” said an Opel spokesman.
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Opel dealer: “There must be a profitable economy possible”
Surprisingly, this approach does not come, said Peter List the Handelsblatt. The Austrian is chairman of the Association of European Opel and Vauxhall dealers (Euroda) and even managing several Opel car dealerships in the neighboring country. “But even under the new contract, profitable business must be possible. That’s our condition. “
To achieve this goal, please Opel, according to the Handelsblatt, the stakeholders of its European dealers, the European Retail Board, next week to Rüsselsheim. In mid-May, the Association of German Opel dealers will discuss the German version of the contract with the Group, Association spokesman Peter Müller said the Handelsblatt.
In this country only twelve of the 385 companies are not to receive a new offer. This is what German boss Opel, Jürgen Keller, said in an interview with the journal “Autohaus”. The expectations of the other dealers Euroda-President List already in the conversation with the Handelsblatt already clearly formulated: “We assume that Opel will again offer us a permanent contract with 24 months’ notice.”
The fact that manufacturers cancel contracts with their dealers is not an unusual process in itself. It’s been less than three months since Volkswagen announced that to terminate its contracts with all 3,500 dealers in Europe, Unlike Opel has announced it, VW intends to downsize its dealer network of currently around 1,000 dealers significantly – how strong, is not yet known.
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Similar game at Toyota in the spring of 2015: At that time, 500 new car dealers got mail from the Japanese carmaker – and about a fifth of them subsequently no new contract. “After that, the remaining Toyota dealers among the importers were the most satisfied,” says Reindl. “That shows how much they were under pressure.”
However, this also applies to the distribution of Opel. And not only since Carlos Tavares in Rüsselsheim has the shots. Last year, Opel has sold five percent fewer cars, and latest figures show that Sales in the first quarter of this year continue to weaken, The Europe-wide market share of Opel and the English subsidiary Vauxhall fell in the first three months to 5.8 percent; two years ago, it was still 6.9 percent.
“In a rising market, Opel is losing market share and even sales,” says car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. The head of Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen is convinced: “In my opinion, Opel will continue to lose significant market share and sales over the next 18 months.”
The reason: Opel lacks it on attractive new models. In addition, the works are too inefficient.
“The saved costs should then migrate to PSA”
Dudenhoffers bill goes like this: While Ford, for example, manages to produce a Fiesta in the factory in Cologne within eleven hours, Opel needs about 28 hours until a finished car rolls off the line. This difference costs.
For every working hour in Germany, car manufacturers like Opel have to calculate with 54 euros. In Spain, one working hour costs only 26 euros. In order for automotive construction to pay off in Germany, the factories must be particularly efficient. Ford succeeds according to Dudenhöffer to catch the higher German wages, Opel not.
The Rüsselsheim are in this country “not competitive”. The autoprofessor even considers it possible for Opel to close entire plants – such as those in Eisenach or Kaiserslautern. According to a report from Wednesday in Eisenach, the car manufacturer plans to plan a massive job cuts,
The Opel dealers know, therefore, “that something has to move,” says IFA director Reindl. That Opel still wants to save only twelve of the 385 distribution partners, he still believes credible: “The dealers are in the face of quantities still have their rights – especially at Opel, which relies heavily on the local service.”
The new contracts are also about revamping distributors’ compensation. Advice, offer, test drive: These services would continue to be used actively by customers, but the purchase contract will probably be concluded online more often in the future. “Also because of the contracts must be adjusted.”
Nevertheless, the termination can hardly be separated from the recovery plan. Opel boss Michael Lohscheller wants that Opel 2020 for the first time in nearly 20 years profits again. It is just the year in which the new contract with the dealers should come into force. “About lower costs and standards at the dealer and greater concentration Lohscheller wants to reduce the dealer’s margin,” says Dudenhöffer: “The costs saved should then migrate to PSA.”
Elsewhere, the conflicts continue to fester. In the dispute over the future capacity utilization of the Opel plant in Eisenach, IG Metall and the works council are crowding out the workforce in Germany. The employee representatives invited for Thursday at the Rüsselsheim headquarters to a premature company meeting to inform about the current development. Similar meetings are planned at the other Opel locations.
“PSA and the management approve of the breach of collective bargaining”, it said in a leaflet that was mobilized for the company meetings. “After months of negotiations, there are still no satisfactory proposals for an equal fulfillment of the product and project commitments from the development and works agreements on the table.”
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