Opel Confirms Car Production to End at Bochum in 2016

VIENNA – Adam Opel confirms it will phase out vehicle production at its plant in Bochum, Germany, in 2016.

Opel Deputy CEO Thomas Sedran tells workers at a meeting in Bochum today that the halt to production is planned to coincide with the end of the current Zafira Tourer multipurpose vehicle’s lifecycle, which is expected in 2016.

The news does not come as a surprise. The General Motors subsidiary has been considering closing Bochum facility for several years.

No successor to the current Zafira is planned for Bochum in view of the shrinking European car market and the industry’s overcapacity. Despite intensive efforts, the situation could not be remedied, Opel says.

Opel production started at Bochum in October 1962 with the Kadett. The plant currently manufactures the Opel/Vauxhall Zafira Tourer MPV and its predecessor the 7-seat Zafira Family. It also builds small volumes of previous-generation Astra III hatchbacks and wagons destined mainly for East European markets.

Some operations may remain at the site. The warehouse in Bochum, which employs 430 workers, “will continue to offer jobs beyond 2016 and could be expanded,” Opel says.

Opel says it is negotiating with worker unions to allocate component production to Bochum. However, it does not say what kind of components nor the volume that would be manufactured at the facility. Therefore, it’s unclear how many of the plant’s 3,300 jobs could be saved.

Bochum also makes transmissions at the plant, and Opel is considering ending that production, which employs about 300 workers, by the end of 2013.

“Opel takes its responsibility seriously and will implement still-necessary job reductions in the most socially responsible way,” Steve Girsky, GM Vice Chairman, Chairman of the Opel supervisory board and acting president of GM Europe says in a statement.

“The goal of our negotiations with the works council is to refrain from forced redundancies before the run-out of the current Zafira.”

The end of car production at Bochum will mark the first time in several decades that a large vehicle plant in Western Germany has closed.