GM's Opel Said to Have a Future in Germany

US carmaker General Motors plans to keep up production in Germany, possibly at the expense of Sweden, a leading Swedish newspaper reported. The past weeks have seen much media speculation as to which plant -- the one in Rüsselsheim, Germany, or in Trollhättan, western Sweden -- would be shut down as a result of planned restructuring. On Sunday, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter quoted a GM insider as saying the German firm would be selected to produce GM's next generation of middle-class cars, thus sparing it from a shut-down. Germany's Opel plant was selected over Sweden's Saab factory because it is more centrally located, the report said. But a speaker for Opel said the report was purely speculative. GM recently said it wanted to cut 12, 000 jobs in Europe most of which would be from Germany. The report also claimed the Saab factory would not be closed down, but instead a new luxury car would be made there.