G.M.’s Opel Unit Reaches Deal to Close a German Plant

Opel had already announced that it would close the factory, which makes Zafira minivans and employs about 3,200 people. But the agreement with the Opel workers’ council would let the company cease production at the end of 2014 without the protests or work stoppages that have hurt efforts by companies like Ford or PSA Peugeot Citroën to close factories.

With European auto sales near a 20-year low, automakers are desperate to cut costs. But factories like the one in Bochum, in northwestern Germany, are often the largest employers in their areas. Attempts to close them generate intense resistance from unions and political leaders.

Opel said it had reached an agreement with worker representatives on important elements of the shutdown, including a plan to expand a parts distribution center that could absorb about 400 workers. Some workers will be offered jobs in other locations, and those remaining will receive severance pay and help finding new jobs. The company and workers still must work out details of the agreement.

Production of the Zafira will be moved to Rüsselsheim, where Opel has its headquarters.

Ulrich Weber, an Opel spokesman, said it was too early to estimate the total job losses as a result of closing the plant or the cost to G.M. Other auto factory closings in Europe have been expensive. Ford is paying $750 million in severance costs to about 4,000 blue-collar workers at a factory in Genk, Belgium, that will also close at the end of next year.

G.M. reported third-quarter losses in Europe of $200 million, which was an improvement over a loss of $500 million a year earlier. But overcapacity is likely to continue to be a problem for the European car industry until demand picks up.

The burden of underused factories is unevenly distributed within the industry. High-volume carmakers like Opel and Peugeot have suffered most. Others, like the German automaker BMW, do not have too much extra capacity because their models continue to sell well. On Monday, BMW began production of a new generation of its sporty Mini compact car at a factory in Oxford, Britain.

BMW said it was investing 750 million pounds, or $1.2 billion, through 2015 in its British factories, which include plants in Swindon and Hams Hall.