Opel to Close Bochum Plant in Germany

General Motors Co.'s ailing Adam Opel unit says it plans to shutter an assembly plant in Bochum, Germany, after 2016 to cut excess capacity in Europe as part of a broader restructuring.

The Bochum facility would be the first a major German auto factory closing since World War II. Opel closed a smaller plant in Antwerp, Belgium, two years ago.

Opel announced the fate of Bochum and its 3,300 workers in a joint statement with its German labor leaders. Analysts opine that may signal that the two parties are close to an agreement on the turnaround plan. The company says it is still seeking workers' agreement to postpone the 4% annual pay raise that the IG Metall union negotiated last month with German manufacturers.

In exchange, Opel says it would extend by two years the no-layoff pledge in its current labor contract, which protects jobs through the end of 2014. The company already has agreed to keep the Bochum facility open two years longer than expected until the current-generation Zafira Tourer MPV it builds is scheduled to go out of production.

Opel had considered closing two assembly plants, The Wall Street Journal notes. The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, says the company now expects to achieve efficient use of its capacity by shedding only Bochum, cutting additional jobs in Europe and producing non-Opel vehicles.

Bochum, which is one of the company's oldest and costliest plants, was considered most vulnerable to closing. An assembly plant in Ellesmere Port, England, escaped the ax when its workers agreed to a new, flexible contract. Opel announced last month it would build the next-generation Astra compact car at the U.K. facility.