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NEW YORK - General Motors Europe was hit by an operating loss of $747-million (R5.7 billion) in 2011 despite its parent US division returning a record profit.
GM, in 2009, had considered selling the division which makes Opel and Vauxhall cars in Germany and Britain but changed its mind. The 2011 losses again raise the spectre of an uncertain future.
BILLIONS LOST
The figures came well short of the R15-billion loss of 2010 but dashed hopes that the unit would turn the corner to profitability.
Strong North American sales pushed overall GM earnings to R58-billion. Chief executive Dan Akerson said in Detroit that they had been winning market share around the globe but agreed that sales in Europe and South America were below expectations.
The European unit has been in profit only once in the past 12 years - 2006. In 2011 GM shut a car factory in the Belgian city of Antwerp and slashed its workforce of 48 000 by 8000.
GM, in 2009, had considered selling the division which makes Opel and Vauxhall cars in Germany and Britain but changed its mind. The 2011 losses again raise the spectre of an uncertain future.
BILLIONS LOST
The figures came well short of the R15-billion loss of 2010 but dashed hopes that the unit would turn the corner to profitability.
Strong North American sales pushed overall GM earnings to R58-billion. Chief executive Dan Akerson said in Detroit that they had been winning market share around the globe but agreed that sales in Europe and South America were below expectations.
The European unit has been in profit only once in the past 12 years - 2006. In 2011 GM shut a car factory in the Belgian city of Antwerp and slashed its workforce of 48 000 by 8000.
