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12-11-2006, 02:33 PM
GM Europe 2006 sales to top 2 Million Units for the First Time
http://www.gmeurope.com/
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=basicIndustries&storyid=2006-12-11T180435Z_01_L11761475_RTRIDST_0_SP_PAGE_023-L11761475-OISBI.XML
General Motors Europe 2006 Sales to Top 2 Mln Units
LONDON (Reuters) - General Motors, the world's biggest carmaker, said on Monday that sales at its European operations would top two million units this year for the first time, partly due to booming eastern European demand.
GM Europe, which has slashed jobs and costs as part of a turnaround program, also said it expected to make a profit for the first time since 1999 this year. However, its market share would decline.
"We should be breaking through two million units for the first time in our history in Europe," GM Europe's vice president for sales and marketing Jonathan Browning told reporters at a news conference in London.
GM Europe posted net income for first nine months of calendar 2006 of $196 million, up from last year's loss. Browning said it would be profitable for the full year.
"Even at the level of profitability we were displaying in the first nine months this is still a level we are not satisfied with and we are looking to progress our turnaround," Browning said.
However, GM Europe's market share fell to 9.2 percent for the first 11 months of this year, down from 9.4 percent a year ago. Browning said he did not expect "significant changes" to that figure for the full year.
Its Saab and Chevrolet volumes have risen but its Opel/Vauxhall brand has lost market share.
Browning said to expect continued pressure on jobs at GM Europe. GM Europe has cut its overall workforce by nearly 12,000, or about a fifth, shut down a plant in Portugal and removed a shift from the Ellesmere Port plant in England.
"We certainly expect to see continuing pressure in terms of employment across western Europe in terms of productivity improvements," he said.
Browning said he was pleased with the progress Ellesmere Port had made since it cut one of three shifts at the plant earlier this year, raising fears the entire site would be shutdown.
He said the plant was in a "very strong position" for the future, although it would come under scrutiny in a global assessment of GM's total manufacturing facilities next year.
GM has decided to sell Belgian-made Opel Astras in North America under the Saturn brand from late next year.
Browning said GM hoped to export about 30,000 of the vehicles in the first year although this was a "fairly flexible" forecast rather than specifying a fixed volume.
http://www.gmeurope.com/
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=basicIndustries&storyid=2006-12-11T180435Z_01_L11761475_RTRIDST_0_SP_PAGE_023-L11761475-OISBI.XML
General Motors Europe 2006 Sales to Top 2 Mln Units
LONDON (Reuters) - General Motors, the world's biggest carmaker, said on Monday that sales at its European operations would top two million units this year for the first time, partly due to booming eastern European demand.
GM Europe, which has slashed jobs and costs as part of a turnaround program, also said it expected to make a profit for the first time since 1999 this year. However, its market share would decline.
"We should be breaking through two million units for the first time in our history in Europe," GM Europe's vice president for sales and marketing Jonathan Browning told reporters at a news conference in London.
GM Europe posted net income for first nine months of calendar 2006 of $196 million, up from last year's loss. Browning said it would be profitable for the full year.
"Even at the level of profitability we were displaying in the first nine months this is still a level we are not satisfied with and we are looking to progress our turnaround," Browning said.
However, GM Europe's market share fell to 9.2 percent for the first 11 months of this year, down from 9.4 percent a year ago. Browning said he did not expect "significant changes" to that figure for the full year.
Its Saab and Chevrolet volumes have risen but its Opel/Vauxhall brand has lost market share.
Browning said to expect continued pressure on jobs at GM Europe. GM Europe has cut its overall workforce by nearly 12,000, or about a fifth, shut down a plant in Portugal and removed a shift from the Ellesmere Port plant in England.
"We certainly expect to see continuing pressure in terms of employment across western Europe in terms of productivity improvements," he said.
Browning said he was pleased with the progress Ellesmere Port had made since it cut one of three shifts at the plant earlier this year, raising fears the entire site would be shutdown.
He said the plant was in a "very strong position" for the future, although it would come under scrutiny in a global assessment of GM's total manufacturing facilities next year.
GM has decided to sell Belgian-made Opel Astras in North America under the Saturn brand from late next year.
Browning said GM hoped to export about 30,000 of the vehicles in the first year although this was a "fairly flexible" forecast rather than specifying a fixed volume.