Mohamed doesn’t seem to be really sad about the resignation of Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares. Maybe things would go better with a different manager at the helm of the Opel parent company, says the young man who comes to work on Monday afternoon from the Rüsselsheim Opelwerk S-Bahn station. The fact that production in Rüsselsheim is at a standstill this week shows that things are not going so well at the moment. Mohamed is not employed in vehicle assembly, but in alloy, as he says – the work there this week is voluntary; He’s coming, but he can take another week off. But in principle, the employees in production are released this week – an Opel spokesman confirmed a corresponding report in the local newspaper “Main-Spitze” upon request. As a reason, he said: “Production at the Rüsselsheim plant has, in consultation with the works council, from On December 1st, new, flexible shift models were introduced in all areas.” The current “production-free week” will be used to adapt work processes. “In recognition of the work they have done this year, the employees will be released without any deductions.” “Current market requirements” as reasons for shift reductions From next Monday onwards, production will continue “with one shift until the end of January 2025,” said the company spokesman. In November, the then two shifts had already been shortened. The spokesman cited “processed order peaks and current market requirements” as the reasons for the changes. In addition, “the efficiency of production has been significantly increased” in Rüsselsheim. The Astra and the DS 4 are built in the Opel main plant – DS Automobiles is one of the French brands of the Stellantis Group. Both models are manufactured in Rüsselsheim in all drive types. The fate of the location does not depend solely on the electric drive, as is the case with Volkswagen’s electric car plant in Zwickau. Nevertheless, the slump in electric car sales this year is also hitting Opel hard: According to the Federal Motor Vehicle Authority, the number of newly registered Opel vehicles with pure battery drive in the first ten months of this year was 67.6 percent lower than in the same period in 2023 Across all drive types, the number of newly registered Opel vehicles has nevertheless increased: there have been around 126,000 so far this year, a good 6,000 more than in the first ten months 2023. The number of new registrations for the Astra, which is manufactured in Rüsselsheim, has more than doubled. But according to IG Metall, 200 temporary workers in Rüsselsheim had to leave as early as October.More on the topicOpel is also trying to accelerate a severance payment program agreed with the works council in 2023. According to the company, “alternative conditions of the volunteer program” will apply until January 10th, which are intended to make the exit more attractive – the aim is to cut 1,000 jobs. The company does not say how many of these have already been eliminated this year. The spokesman referred to figures from the end of 2023: At that time, around 8,300 employees were employed in Rüsselsheim, of which more than 1,600 were in the factory, around 5,900 in development and other central areas 570 in the German sales company of Stellantis. When the predecessor company PSA took over Opel in 2017, around 15,000 people were still working at the headquarters in Rüsselsheim. Tavares orchestrated the takeover at the time – he has lived up to his reputation as a cost killer.
Go to Source