GENERAL MOTORS COULD RETURN TO EUROPE
This year was a historical one for one of America’s greatest companies, General Motors. The General pulled out of Europe as well as South Africa, among others, regions where it has been doing businesses for decades in some instances. By selling its Opel/ Vauxhall units to PSA Groupe, GM effectively left that continent. We all thought it was a permanent move. But apparently in business, as in politics, nothing is really permanent.
GM CEO Mary Barra has told journalists in the US that it is possible for her company to return to Europe, but only if it could make “transformative” products available over there. There were no specifics on what these may be, but we suspect she means plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Incidentally Opel has been developing these over the years, presumably not to Barra’s satisfaction. With Opel and Vauxhall gone, it would then fall into the hands of Chevrolet and perhaps Cadillac to sell these “transformative” products to Europeans.
