Duesseldorf — Opel and its workers clashed on Wednesday over reported plans by French parent PSA Group to sell part of its research and development (R&D) arm, just as management seeks to wrap up a restructuring agreement with German labour bosses. Le Monde newspaper had reported on Tuesday that France’s PSA was looking to sell part of Opel’s R&D operations to help to restore profitability to the loss-making unit. "A sale of Opel’s development would rob Opel of its future. The technological heart of the Opel brand lies in engineering," Opel’s works council said in a statement, vowing to fight any attempt to sell all or part of the R&D arm. It called a staff meeting for Thursday and asked Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller to address workers there. PSA and Opel had already sounded out car engineering firms over the past few months so they could submit offers for four sections of the business that are valued at about €500m in total, Le Monde said.
Opel said on Wednesday that no decisio...
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