GM Unmoved by VW Apology
Volkswagen apologized Monday to General Motors Corp. to try to make amends for “trouble and costs” over an industrial espionage scandal, but the giant U.S. auto maker said it was not enough.
VW Chief Executive Ferdinand Piech said fresh talks now with GM could end a nearly four-year-long legal battle pitting two of the world’s giant car makers.
Piech told journalists at a Volkswagen event in the French-German border city of Colmar, France, that VW may consider resuming purchasing parts from General Motors and its German subsidiary, Adam Opel.
He expressed regret for the “turmoil, trouble and costs resulting for both companies” over former GM production guru Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua’s move to the German auto maker.
But he said the move by Lopez, a 55-year-old Spaniard, to VW was “fully legal” and did not comment directly on allegations that Lopez and seven other former GM associates stole secret documents when they quit the U.S. auto maker.
A GM official said Piech’s comments were insufficient to bring about new settlement talks.
“It does not meet our conditions,” the GM official said. “Our conditions are that VW acknowledge the wrongdoing, sever all ties with Lopez and his collaborators, and compensate GM and Opel for the damages. Regret alone will not be sufficient.”
GM alleged that Lopez used the secret information from GM to cut about $451 million in costs at VW, quickly eroding a 20% cost advantage that Opel had over its German rival.
Piech, the grandson of VW founder Ferdinand Porsche, had long said he would not apologize to GM over its allegations that VW lured away Lopez and others who brought along secret plans on auto parts pricing and an innovative factory.
But Piech’s statement appeared aimed at meeting one of the conditions that GM has laid out before it would consider any deal to end its U.S. lawsuit accusing VW of racketeering.
GM officials have said VW has missed previous chances to de-escalate the fight, including the resignation of Lopez and attempts to strike a new conciliatory tone with GM.
Signs of progress in the dispute appeared in late November when Lopez quit the VW management board. But Lopez was replaced by Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, 39, who is named as a defendant in the U.S. racketeering lawsuit that also lists Piech and other top VW executives as defendants.
Lopez’s German lawyer has said he expects prosecutors in the suburban Frankfurt city of Darmstadt to file charges against his client by year-end. Sources have said charges against Lopez will probably be made public in the coming days.
