New CEO Opel, Michael Lohscheller, wants to restore the competitiveness of the brand to lightning, in the red since 1999 and bought by PSA last year. He comes up against the opposition of the representatives of the German employees, who consider that the investments proposed in the sites in the Rhine are insufficient.
Let me clarify some things: Today we respect wage agreements at all our sites in Germany. This has even been validated by external lawyers. Our investment plans are also on the table for Eisenach, Kaiserslautern and Rüsselsheim. Of course, we are making some product changes – we are not going to introduce new models on a General Motors architecture – but the main points of the agreements will be respected, be they exclusive car allowances, engines or components. We have always said that we expect to avoid layoffs and closures.
Our recovery plan does not even have six months. We quickly found deals in the UK, Austria, Poland, Spain, Hungary, but not in Germany. Negotiations with our social partners have not yet succeeded because we have more sites and employees here than elsewhere in Europe.
We have also changed a lot in a very short time in terms of products and technology, we have made our structure more efficient. In five months, our fixed costs have dropped by 17%, it’s very fast! I hope we will find solutions as soon as possible, because the German sites are not competitive today. The sooner we change that, the better for everyone.
The difference in performance is quite significant between Opel’s German factories and PSA’s French factories. It’s mainly related to the architecture and complexity of our products. We currently have nine different platforms, which results in much higher costs. We will eventually have only two. The new Corsa that we will launch next year, for example, has asked for much less investment than expected. And, of course, we also discuss the cost of labor.
Good news: I was chairman of a works council 25 years ago. Second good news: I’m German, I speak German, so I understand everything that happens in Germany. The question is rather the following: in the face of all these changes, how can we find solutions together? The solution will be found within Opel, no one else will find a solution for us. All this has nothing to do with Paris.
This fear is unfounded. We are not efficient in certain areas, and our payroll / turnover ratio is far too high [16%, compared to 10% at PSA, ed]. We have therefore launched two voluntary retirement programs for well-functioning seniors, and we are now launching another voluntary redundancy plan for all employees. It is important to continue these programs.
We negotiated and signed the departure plans with the EC. If we do things together, it’s also important to put them together.
The flow of information of the last fifteen days is obviously not good at all. But the image of a brand does not change in a few weeks. What really matters is to lay a solid foundation for a new Opel. We do not just want to break even but record a operating margin 6% by 2026. Performance is the best protection for the future. The status quo is not an option.