- The Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, will close down in 2014, two years earlier than formerly planned. Employees of the European subsidiary of General Motors have indeed rejected a restructuring plan negotiated by unions and management, which will lead to a complete shutdown of production in late 2014.

- This plant is the second one to be closed down by GM since 2010 (after the  Antwerp one). In 2013, The U.S. has seven plants in Europe: Eisenach (Germany), Rüsselsheim (Germany), Bochum (Germany), Zaragoza (Spain), Ellesmere Port (UK),  Luton (UK) and Gliwice (Poland ).

- GM plans to definitely stop the production of Opel ZafiraTourer MPV (114,000 units produced in 2012) on this site by the end of 2014. The model could be transferred to the Gliwice plant (which has already produced the Zafira in the past) or PSA Rennes, where production of an Opel model is planned,  according to the  2012 GM-PSA agreements.

- It is to be noted that Opel is under strong pressure from GM to reduce its excess production capacity. Indeed, the production of Opel in Europe fell by nearly 36% between 2005 and 2012.