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Aussie Jobs Safe despite GM Bankruptcy
Australia, June 2, 2009 – GM Holden Chief Executive Mark Reuss announced yesterday that the bankruptcy of parent company General Motors Corp. (GM) will not have a negative impact on Australian arm’s employees. He said that this is a positive opportunity to restructure and no job losses are planned for now.
GM Holden is one of the parent company’s three key subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region. “We are a viable, sustainable business in the long term,” said Reuss. “We are cashflow positive, we are liquid (and) on the verge of turning a profit here this last month even in a down business.”
At the onset of the economic downturn, GM Holden was able to aggressively respond by cutting shifts and freezing pay. The company is currently at a strong standing with one of the best selling models in Australia in the Holden Commodore and the new car they plan to introduce called the Cruze.
“With all those things in place, with the right operating and structural cost, we can be very profitable here,” says Reuss. He adds that the division is poised to make a return on investment “in the first half of next year, if not sooner”.
In terms of capacity, GM Holden is also a top player with the South Australia-based manufacturing plant currently producing 66,000 units. This is only two-thirds of the plant’s capacity.
“We are on the verge of bumping (capacity) up as we bring the small car online and then we have some export opportunities that we can’t reveal today that will bring (capacity) back pretty quickly,” says Reuss.
Holden will start manufacturing the compact front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder car by the third quarter of 2010. It will be manufactured at GM Holden’s South Australia plant and is expected to support up to 1, 200 jobs.
Source:
money.cnn.com
