Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
GM and Europe; How this affects my life
Topic Started: Feb 17 2009, 10:58 AM (258 Views)
Wim
Junior Carp
GM are to present a plan to the US government in which they deal with cutting back 'redundant' production facilities. As GM is American, it's pretty obvious that European plants will suffer the biggest blow. I have a lot of friends who work in GM-Opel (Belgium). Their jobs are at stake now...future begins to look grimmer... :eek:

The following article is in German, but I guess the main topic is comprehensible when you take a look at the map added.

GM and Europe

Wim
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
JoeB
Member Avatar
Senior Carp
Aren't the European GM cars different than the US monstermobiles? I would think that SUV plants (in North America) would be the first to go.
"There are many ingredients in the stew of annoyance." - Bucky Katt
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Hallo Wim, du spricht also auch deutsch?
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
JoeB
Feb 17 2009, 11:02 AM
Aren't the European GM cars different than the US monstermobiles? I would think that SUV plants (in North America) would be the first to go.
Yes. Opel has its own models, and they don't look like American cars at all (and I think they are not even sold in the US).
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Opels were sold here in the 70's, but they stopped. Yes, they are, or were anyway, different models.

I wonder what the overhead to produce them there is as opposed to here?
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Phlebas
Member Avatar
Bull-Carp
I've rented Opels over there. I like them.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Wim
Junior Carp
Klaus
Feb 17 2009, 11:02 AM
Hallo Wim, du spricht also auch deutsch?
Hallo Klaus,

Ein bisschen. Ich verstehe die Sprache zimmlich gut, aber schreiben fallt mir zimlich schwer.

Grüss

Wim
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Opel's are mostly typical European city cars - they are too small for American taste.

This is their best-selling model, the Astra:

Posted Image

Incidentially I lived only 20km from the main Opel factory until 2007.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Wim
Junior Carp
It's predecessor was built in Antwerp.

Wim
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kincaid
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
I'm pretty sure most Saturns sold here are Opels, including the Astra and the prior Insignia. Even their Saturn SUV (the little one) is based on a European Opel.

Anyway, I can't imagine GM plans to do more than just cut production across the board, depending on what is and isn't selling.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
My second car, this color too!

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
You have owned an Opel Manta, George? :spit:

In Germany, there is not a single car that is more clichéd and with more jokes about it then the Manta. There is even a movie about Manta drivers.

There is a small hardcore Manta fan group, and they are ridiculed by the rest of the population.

If you have a Manta in good shape it is worth a fortune nowadays.

You don't fit to the Manta driver cliché at all, George! For example, if you are a real Manta driver, you are required to have a blonde, sexy but slutty/stupid girlfriend called "Uschi" who is hairdresser.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
Member Avatar
Finally
Interesting points, Klaus. The Opels were sold in the US by Buick (division of GM). Although it looked like a Manta, in the US it was called the 1900 (no, not the sporty looking 1900). I got it in 1972 and kept it for 5 years. It was a pretty basic car. The only "upgrade" was the automatic transmission.

No power steering
No power brakes
No power windows

It was a pretty bad car, but not as bad as the Mustang that it replaced.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
This clip from the movie will give you an idea of the Manta stereotype.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kincaid
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
OMG! I love the Manta! And the GT! Hated the Kadett! Boo hiss.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
DealsFor.me - The best sales, coupons, and discounts for you
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply