Opel Moves to Responding to Industrial Not Political Imperatives

'A wholly rational choice. They have acted correctly and this [decision] is a good thing for Europe because they are doing what must be done: infrastructures in Europe, which are too big and extensive, must be rationalised. This is a complicated business: rational industrial choices should be made with great care.' Sergio Marchionne welcoming GM's decision to retain Opel.

[''Una scelta totalmente razionale. Hanno fatto bene ed e' una cosa buona per l'Europa , perche' fanno le cose che dovranno fare: dovranno razionalizzare le infrastrutture in Europa che sono troppo grosse e complesse. Questo e' un business complicato: le scelte razionali e industriali vanno fatte in una maniera molto precisa'].

The FIAT director took over Chrysler in the summer and has been restructuring ever since, according to his industrial blueprint. (FIAT's shares rise steadily). He abandoned discussions to acquire Opel remarking that when the politics had been washed out of the negotiations and industrial efficiency and profit were the objectives Opel would be worth looking at. But the German elections stood in the way of a European-wide rationalisation of car production.

Dr Marchionne doesn't do politics - not politics politics - he does industrial planning and efficiency and profits. Vauxhall may be cheering at events today but a lot of politics politics will be over by next Spring, both in the UK and in the local German elections. The plants in Poland and Russia can then take on their industrial importance, while older plant in Germany, and peripheral plant in other countries, particularly the UK, wish the English Secretary for Industry had kept himself to himself.