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GM promises Opel decision soon

Last Updated: Monday, November 16, 2009 | 6:16 PM ET

General Motors Corp. promised Monday to make a decision on cutting costs at its European car-making operations within the next two weeks.

Nick Reilly, the head of GM's Adam Opel and Vauxhall divisions, told reporters that he knows workers in Germany, Belgium, Britain, Spain and Poland are anxious to learn what will happen.

A General Motors Co. executive says the company will decide in two weeks how to cut costs at its European operations, including Opel, whose headquarters are in Ruesselsheim, Germany.A General Motors Co. executive says the company will decide in two weeks how to cut costs at its European operations, including Opel, whose headquarters are in Ruesselsheim, Germany. (Michael Probst/AP Photo)

On Nov. 3, GM reversed its decision to sell the divisions to Aurora, Ont.-based auto-parts maker Magna International and its Russian banking partner, Sberbank.

"We know it is disturbing and unsettling to have this hanging over your head for such a period of time and so we intend to take that decision in a relatively short period of time, approximately two weeks or so," he said.

Reilly said the company was weighing different options to cut costs at the troubled Opel unit.

"At the end of the day we're going to have to take some tough decisions somewhere in Europe to reduce our capacities."

(With files from The Associated Press)
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