Frankfurt — Carl-Peter Forster, the head of General Motors in Europe, is poised to leave the company, it emerged on Friday, just days after the U.S. car maker decided to hold on to its Opel/Vauxhall operations.
People close to the car maker told the Financial Times that Mr Forster was set to leave the company soon, adding that he was likely to be replaced by Nick Reilly, GM’s head of international operations who is known as a tough restructuring manager.
Mr Reilly will be an interim solution, however, as he will not take up the same position Mr Forster currently has. Instead, he will lead the transition team that will oversee Opel’s restructuring in the coming months.
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“We have to make sure that there will be no leadership vacuum in the current critical situation,” one GM Europe insider said.
They said it had yet to be decided who would lead Opel after GM’s restructuring plan will be finalised.
GM Europe and Opel declined to comment.
Fritz Henderson, GM’s chief executive, had on Thursday declined to comment on Mr Forster’s future.
Mr Forster, who became GM Europe’s head five years ago, had been a strong supporter of the plan to sell Opel to Magna, the Canadian car parts maker, and Sberbank, the Russian bank. Earlier this week, he had criticised the GM board’s decision to retain Opel.
People close to Mr Forster say he has at least two offers from other companies within the automotive industry.
Car industry insiders said that earlier this year Mr Forster was asked by Schaeffler, one of Germany’s largest car suppliers which ran into financial trouble after buying a large stake in rival Continental, to become their new chief executive. But the owners eventually decided to hold on to Jürgen Geissinger, the long-standing chief executive.
Mr Forster, a former BMW manager, said this week that he would stay in the car industry if he were to leave GM one day.
“I was once called a stalwart of the car industry and I will in any case stay in the automotive sector,” he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
