Germany and Russia yesterday reacted furiously to General Motors' surprise decision to keep Opel rather than sell it, throwing up fresh uncertainty about the future direction of one of Europe's biggest carmakers.
The news that GM's board had abandoned the sale of Opel/Vauxhall to Canada's Magna and Russia's Sberbank also led to a schism among the carmaker's workers, with UK employees hailing a “fantastic decision” while Germans said they would start warning strikes today in protest.
Jürgen Rüttgers, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where GM proposes closing a factory, said: “General Motors' behaviour shows the ugly face of turbo-capitalism. That is completely unacceptable.”