Carmaker Opel, the European unit of General Motors, is planning to cut production by more than 10 percent in 2013 in light of the weak European car market, a German magazine reported on Sunday. Loss-making Opel is planning to produce just 845,000 cars in Europe in 2013, Spiegel reported, without citing any sources.
The company produced 1.19 million cars at its Opel and Vauxhall plants in Europe in 2011, the last year for which figures are available. It will release 2012 figures in the new year.
A spokesman for Opel declined to comment on production plans, saying only, "We want to keep our market share in Europe in 2013 stable."
Keeping market share stable would probably mean fewer sales given the parlous state of the European car market.
Overall European car sales shrunk by 7.2 percent in January to November from a year earlier, according to data from the Association of European carmakers (ACEA), and most analysts expect volumes to fall further in 2013. According to ACEA, Opel's market share for the 11 months stood at 6.8 percent.