European head of General Motors quits (Roundup)

Nov 6, 2009, 19:18 GMT

Ruesselsheim, Germany/Washington - The European head of General Motors, Carl-Peter Forster, is quitting after GM's surprise U-turn over European subsidiary Opel, the US carmaker confirmed Friday.

Detroit-based GM did not give a reason for Forster's departure as chief executive of Opel Europe, but in a statement said he was helping GM in its search for a replacement.

Forster, 55, had been highly critical of GM's last-minute decision not to sell Opel to Canadian-Austrian car parts manufacturer Magna and their Russian backer, state-owned Sberbank.

'We had negotiated a good restructuring plan,' Forster told German daily Bild after GM decided on Tuesday to cancel the deal. 'Now we run the risk that the sensible division of burden is unravelled again, and everything begins from scratch.'

Forster had been billed as the head of 'NewOpel' if the deal had gone ahead. His exceptionally fierce criticism of GM's change of heart triggered speculation that he would leave the company.

Forster led Opel in Germany from 2001 to 2004, before rising to the helm of GM's European operations, based in Zurich, Switzerland. GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said Forster had helped Opel make 'tremendous progress' in the past few years.

'We thank (Forster) for his significant accomplishments and wish him only the best in the future. In the meantime, we're confident that the key personnel leading Opel will stay focused on running the business during this time of transition,' Henderson said in a statement.

Forster's successor may be US-based manager Nick Reilly, according to German Spiegel Online news website. Reilly, who looks after GM's Asian operations as well as the Chevrolet brand, is to restructure Opel, according to the report.

Current Opel chief Hans Demant is also to quit his post, the German Press Agency dpa learned. Henderson said there were no other planned changes to GM's European leadership.

The departure comes as GM is working on a restructuring plan for Opel that it hopes to present soon to labour unions and European governments. It is expected to include about 10,000 job cuts that would also have been part of Magna's plans.

Henderson said the company's plan would be presented next week. The German government was also waiting to hear GM's plans for Opel before planning its next moves, a government spokesman said.