Fritz: "We are outperforming our plan from bankruptcy"

[SimonDavid]

Originally Posted by YupYupYup

Opel is back in GM hands, soon...Which I felt was going to happen all along, anyway.

After all, Opel was created by GM from the U.S. and is key to the parent's global ambitions. So it should stay in the hands of its creator.

I agree. I always thought, if GM emerges from bankruptcy quickly, they'll keep Opel. Talking about selling it was a way of a) obtaining bridging finance from Germany b) preparing a fallback scenario in case GM is stuck in bankruptcy a long time.

This is the most positive any senior GM guy has sounded in a long time, they have to close a couple of plants in Europe obviously, but once that's done, Im optimistic

[vcs2600]

Q: Can you send money from here? That you cannot do, right?

Fritz Henderson: We can. The terms of the financing document in December are different from the terms of the exit financing document in August. We are able to run a global business. We certainly need to be prudent about it, be very careful about it, but we do have the ability to run a global business. It is different. The exit documents are different from the loan that was negotiated in December.

Sounds like the US government came through for Opel.

[Ambalanche]

Originally Posted by ejfx

I hope they dont start patting themselves on thier backs for a job well done...they need to keep thier heads down and keep doing what they are doing...
Dont Lose Focus !

Agreed, also, fence mending in Europe may be a huge understateiment depending on how the media spins things there and how the general public there views GM keeping Opel. Hopefully the product is strong enough there that people will still WANT to buy an Opel vs something else.

[Citation84]

Originally Posted by YupYupYup

Opel is back in GM hands, soon...Which I felt was going to happen all along, anyway.

After all, Opel was created by GM from the U.S. and is key to the parent's global ambitions. So it should stay in the hands of its creator.

Uh, Opel was not "created" by GM but purchased by them in the 20s.Adam Opel is the person who created Opel.

Saturn was "created" by GM.

[rueben44]

Very good read and very good news. I am still on to buy more stock!!!

[Caddyguy57]

Originally Posted by YupYupYup

Opel is back in GM hands, soon...Which I felt was going to happen all along, anyway.

After all, Opel was created by GM from the U.S. and is key to the parent's global ambitions. So it should stay in the hands of its creator.

Adam Opel biography

The Opel automobile family traces its roots to 1838 in the town of Rüsselsheim, Germany and the birth of Adam Opel. As a young adult, Adam Opel toured Europe extensively and learned to make sewing machines while in Paris. Fascinated by these machines, Adam Opel, then only 25 years old, opened a factory in Rüsselsheim for volume production of sewing machines.

In 1868, Adam Opel married Sophie Marie Scheller and began a family which would include five sons: Carl, Wilhelm, Heinrich, Friedrich and Ludwig, all of whom would be involved in the family business. In 1885, Adam Opel expanded production to sell fully assembled bicycles in Germany.

When Adam Opel died in 1895, the company was making 2,000 bicycles a year and was leading Europe in sewing machine sales. With the encouragement of their mother, the Opel brothers decided to move into the fledgling automobile industry and would produce their first motorcars in 1899.

In March 1929 General Motors, impressed by Opel's modern production facilities, bought 80% of the company, increasing this to 100% in 1931. The Opel family gained $33.3 million from the transaction. Subsequently, a second factory was built at Brandenburg for the production of "Blitz" (~"Lightning") light trucks.

[Rick_VT]

Originally Posted by YupYupYup

Opel is back in GM hands, soon...Which I felt was going to happen all along, anyway.

After all, Opel was created by GM from the U.S. and is key to the parent's global ambitions. So it should stay in the hands of its creator.

Wow you could not have been any more wrong if you tried, just where did u pull that one from?

Opel and Holden are both much older than GM itself.

After checking online, im pretty sure that the only brands GM created were Pontiac and Saturn, oddly enough both now gone, everything else was bought by GM at some stage.

[Tre-Tre]

I hope they can keep this up for the sake of the North American auto industry renaissance, now there is one more to pick it up go chrysler! I don't care what order, just that they can survive without taxpayer subsidies.

[Michael_S]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

Now its time to bring back the G8 to market.

No, the G8 must stay dead.

It's an awesome car, but the history of Zeta has started to look like a series of B horror movies: it's alive, it's dead, it's alive, it's dead, it's alive, it's dead....

If GM management wants to stop looking like overpaid monkeys that flip coins to make decisions, they need to stick to their guns.

[PONTIACGXP]

Originally Posted by Rick_VT

Wow you could not have been any more wrong if you tried, just where did u pull that one from?

Opel and Holden are both much older than GM itself.

After checking online, im pretty sure that the only brands GM created were Pontiac and Saturn, oddly enough both now gone, everything else was bought by GM at some stage.

GM did not create PONTIAC

Pontiac was part of Oakland Motor Car Company in 1908 and in 1909 GM purchased Oakland.

[Beau]

Why in God's name were there 250 paranthetical statements in that interview.

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted by Michael_S

No, the G8 must stay dead.

It's an awesome car, but the history of Zeta has started to look like a series of B horror movies: it's alive, it's dead, it's alive, it's dead, it's alive, it's dead....

If GM management wants to stop looking like overpaid monkeys that flip coins to make decisions, they need to stick to their guns.

Even if they're wrong and realize that? We wouldn't want them to reverse course and make the right decision? I'm not saying that bringing back the G8 is the correct move but your reasoning is a little off if you ask me.

[Beau]

The reporter in black looks like she had a spray tan mishap.

[fp115]

Originally Posted by PONTIACGXP

GM did not create PONTIAC

Pontiac was part of Oakland Motor Car Company in 1908 and in 1909 GM purchased Oakland.

Wasn't GM created when Durant bought off a few businesses and merged them under one umbrella company?

[Michael_S]

Originally Posted by WishIhadatruck

Even if they're wrong and realize that? We wouldn't want them to reverse course and make the right decision? I'm not saying that bringing back the G8 is the correct move but your reasoning is a little off if you ask me.

Whatever they decide, they sure shouldn't tell the public about it until production versions start getting shipped to dealers.

For anyone that follows General Motors, I think the on/off/on/off nature of Zeta is a huge embarrassment.