GM pays back Germany, signals fewer job cuts

By Tom Kaeckenhoff and Erik Kirschbaum

DUESSELDORF/BERLIN (Reuters) - General Motors has paid back a loan from Germany and slightly lowered its target for job cuts at struggling European unit Opel.

Nick Reilly, the boss brought in from GM's thriving Asian operations to help revamp Opel, told reporters in Duesseldorf on Tuesday that his plans now call for cutting 9,000 to 9,500 jobs at Opel and British sister brand Vauxhall.

GM will present that plan to Opel's labour leaders on Wednesday, having decided not to sell Opel to auto parts maker Magna International and Russian lender Sberbank, who said they would cut 10,000 jobs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government had supported GM's plan to sell Opel to Magna, said on Tuesday that GM had also paid back the last of a 1.5 billion euro bridge loan it had made available to Opel.

"I can tell you that the last funds for Opel have been paid back by General Motors," Merkel said. "I expect at least a thank you letter from General Motors in a few years."

"German taxpayers have not lost a single cent on the entire Opel operation," she said.

The U.S. automaker, which has been bailed out by the U.S. government, is revamping operations worldwide but reassured German workers over its immediate plans.

"Bochum remains an important site for us, in the future as well," Reilly said, referring to Opel's plant in western Germany.