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| R&D center in Rüsselsheim |
Groupe PSA and Opel have informed the general works
council of Opel Automobile GmbH of the intention to discuss a potential
strategic partnership with engineering service provider Segula
Technologies to protect engineering jobs in Rüsselsheim and to overcome
the workload decrease from third parties. The Segula Technologies
proposal aims at creating a European engineering campus and Center of
Excellence in Rüsselsheim enlarging the scope beyond the automotive
industry and including fields such as rail and energy as reflected by
their customer portfolio. An agreement on such a strategic partnership
would include the takeover of vehicle and propulsion engineering
facilities together with up to 2,000 employees of the Rüsselsheim
R&D Center by Segula Technologies. Segula Technologies is willing to
continue the protection against dismissal agreed until July 2023. The
implementation of the potential strategic partnership is subject to
successful further negotiations with Segula Technologies and the social
partners as well as the approvals of various bodies including the
supervisory board of Opel Automobile GmbH.
Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller said: “We have evaluated a solution in
the context of a heavily decreasing workload from external parties in
our R&D Center. Our duty and priority as a responsible management
team has been to work hard on a project to safeguard highly qualified
engineering jobs here in Rüsselsheim, while continuing to proudly
develop our Opel future models and perform the tasks of the 15 Centers
of Competence for the entire Groupe PSA. We will discuss this proposal
of a strategic partnership with our social partners in detail.”
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Laurent Germain, Group Managing Director of Segula Technologies
added: “The potential strategic partnership is key to achieving our aim
of becoming the world’s leading automotive solutions provider by 2023
with the creation of a core engineering center in Rüsselsheim, which’s
scope would also cover new areas beyond the automotive industry to serve
our customers worldwide. The recognised skills of the Opel engineers
combined with Segula Technologies’ know-how, would allow us to set the
standard and contribute to the development of the local economy in the
long run, to meet our customer expectations in all our fields of
activity.”
Christian Müller, Managing Director Engineering of Opel said: “Our
R&D center in Rüsselsheim remains the heart of the Opel brand. Our
engineers are committed to designing and developing future Opel models
here, in addition to the takeover of global tasks for the entire Groupe
PSA, e.g. through 15 Centers of Competence. Thus German engineering
skills will benefit the entire company. At the same time, a strategic
partnership would enable us to fully utilise our state-of-the-art
engineering facilities and to overcome the overcapacity challenges
ahead. We would give a solid future outlook to the engineering team of
today.”
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