Opel job cuts leave German car town fearing China’s growing auto power
RUESSELSHEIM (Germany), Aug 16 — As Germany’s Opel slashes its engineering ranks and partners with China&rsq...
Ruesselsheim, a German city long dominated by Opel, is now feeling the effects of the car manufacturer's restructuring. Opel is cutting 650 engineering positions at its Ruesselsheim development center, as part of a wave of job cuts across the German auto industry. This comes as Opel partners with China's Leapmotor to build a new SUV, tapping the Chinese company's expertise in electric vehicles and low-cost production.
Stellantis, Opel's parent company, announced the 650 job cuts in April. Daniel Bremm, a local union representative, fears that the engineering center may be reduced to a mere "adaptation hub" for vehicles designed elsewhere. Opel's CEO, Florian Huettl, however, sees the partnership with Leapmotor as a way to combine German industrial know-how with Chinese software expertise.
The Ruesselsheim plant is not Opel's only manufacturing site; it is also producing the next-generation Opel Astra and DS4 in Zaragoza, Spain. The move comes as Chinese carmakers have captured a growing share of the EU market, holding nine percent in the first five months of 2026.
The city's mayor, Patrick Burghardt, acknowledges the impact of these job cuts on Ruesselsheim, but remains hopeful that the city's economic diversification efforts, including plans to transform industrial land into a green hydrogen technology hub, will help position the city for the future.
Written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
