GM Near to Sell Strasbourg Plant

GM will sell its plant in France in order to cut costs in the crisis affected European market.

A GM spokesman said that Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Belgium’s Punch Metals International are the companies involved in advanced talks with the automaker to buy the French plant. Punch Metals’ offer includes buying the plant and singing a deal with GM and ZF to manufacture 8-speed transmissions, keeping the 1,000 employees at the facility. Production is expected to begin in 2015 and extend through 2021.

“In a best-case scenario, the sale will be completed by the end of the year,” a GM spokesman told AFP.

Selling the plant will help GM cut costs in the troubled European market, where it lost $478 million during the third quarter. Back in May the automaker announced it is planning to sell its Strasbourg plant after it failed to sell it in 2009 and 2010, as GM moved through bankruptcy protection. The company also plans to cut 2,600 jobs and cut costs by $300 million in Europe. Last month GM said it had cut 2,300 jobs in Europe from the target of 2,600 for this year.