FRANKFURT: General Motors may expand production capacity in low-cost countries while closing itsBochumplant inGermanyandEllesmere Portsite inBritain, a German magazine said, citing an internal strategy document.
If vehicle sales rise, GM would build the additional cars in countries such asPoland,Russia,China,India,MexicoandBrazil, Der Spiegel said, quoting the document, entitled "Global Assembly Footprint".
According to the document, which the magazine said was presented at a global GM business conference, GM plans to export an additional 300,000 vehicles to the European market from plants inMexico,KoreaandChinaby 2016.
"No decision has been made in this regard for Opel's car production," a spokesman for GM inEuropesaid on Sunday, responding to media reports that production may be moved away fromGermany.
A spokesman for GM's European-based Opel unit said GM would always seize the opportunities the global automotive market offered, while declining further comment.
Opel Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke was quoted by German paper Bild on Saturday saying he ruled out plant closures and job cuts in the near term, but added there were "no taboos" in the unit's efforts to become more profitable in the future.
The statements came after German WAZ group newspapers reported late on Friday, citing government sources, that Stracke had informed the German government about plans to close the Opel plant inBochum, adding a meeting between Stracke and the workers union was scheduled for Monday.
"We are following the situation closely and we are in contact with the management of Opel," a spokeswoman forGermany's Economy Ministry said on Sunday, pointing to Stracke's comments that locations were safe at least until the end of 2014.
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