PARIS (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) is considering increasing its car exports from Europe, including to its key U.S. market, to help boost productivity at its European sites, a senior GM executive said on Thursday.þþ``We may export more vehicles from Europe,'' GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster told reporters on the sidelines of the Paris car show, adding that GM would make a decision by the end of this year or early in 2007.þþGM Europe now makes around 100,000 vehicles for export each year to markets including Mexico and the Middle East.þþThe U.S. automaker is considering selling cars made by German unit Opel in Europe under its sister brand Saturn in the United States, Forster said.þþHe added that technical issues had yet to be settled and it was holding talks with the U.S. United Auto Workers union.þþGM's finance head said that the plan to export out of Europe would not involve large volumes.þþ``To the extent that we do it, we will do it to fill out niches,'' Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson told Reuters.þþ``I don't think it is a viable strategy in high volumes, because I worry a lot about currency risk I can't manage.''þþThe better option would be to have Opel and Saturn develop cars together and then manufacture them in their own markets.þþGM Europe is in the process of reducing its workforce by a fifth to end chronic losses in the region. It has no plans at this stage for more big job cuts or plant closures, Forster said, but he added: ``We have never said our drive to improve productivity is over.''þþHe said he was unaware of reported plans to cut 1,000 more jobs.þþGM's European labor leaders have demanded assurances on job security before putting forward proposals for efficiency gains that would determine where GM Europe builds the next generation of mid-sized cars.þþForster said he was open to a deal as long as it benefited both sides, adding that a decision on where to build the next-generation car would be made by late next year.þþHe said Swedish premium brand Saab had stopped losing large amounts of money, but he was not more specific.þþThe goal now for Saab, which activist investors have suggested GM sell, is to strengthen its product line-up by adding an sports utility vehicle and perhaps another model line and improving its distribution network.þþ
Source: NY Times
