Fears GM will press brakes on Vauxhall
GENERAL Motors has laid the ground for cuts to its Vauxhall operation in Britain as it posted another heavy loss in Europe despite record global profits.
Dan Ammann, chief financial officer of the Detroit carmaker, described last year’s $747m (£472.7m) European loss, including $562m in the final quarter, as “unacceptable”.
He said the company is working “aggressively” to transform the continental business, which includes Opel and Vauxhall, but said earlier restructuring plans had been based on Europe’s economy being “more robust” than it is today. GM did not discuss the future of its plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port, near Merseyside, beyond 2014.
The GM group, which was bailed out by US taxpayers in 2009, has been drawn into the US presidential debate with Mitt Romney, the favourite for the Republican nomination, urging the Obama administration to sell its stake of nearly a third.
Yesterday, however, the firm posted record profits after raising US vehicle prices and seeing pension fund returns that were better than expected. GM’s profit jumped 62 per cent to $7.6bn with revenue rising 10.8 per cent to $150.3bn.
Fourth-quarter net income attributable to common shareholders was $500m, or 28 cents a share, compared with $500m, or 31 cents a share, for the same period last year.