GM's woes could begin to affect its Polish operations

"I have no information about limiting production of the Astra or any other cars in our factory," said Romuald Rytwiński, president of GM Poland. In his opinion the plant will carry out its production schedule according to plan. "In 2006 we will assemble 180,000 cars. Half of them will be the Opel Zafira and the remainder will be shared among the Astra and Agila," said the CEO. He also promised that the company would not alter its employment of 3,000 persons. Even if the fears turn out to be unfounded, the Gliwice-based factory will have a problem anyway, as Carl-Peter Forster, GM's president for Europe, announced that the production of new Meriva car will be made in Spanish Saragossa, instead of Gliwice. "Gliwice prepared a good offer. However a final advantage is related to investments. Simply Saragossa already has a production line prepared to assemble the car. Investments in Poland would not be balanced by lower labor costs," said Rytwiński. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 5) M.M.