November 19, 2008

Bonn, Germany: SolarWorld to Submit Offer for Car Manufacturer, Opel

Solarworld AG is planning to submit an offer to the US car maker General Motors (GM) to take over the four German factories and the Rüsselsheim development center of Adam Opel GmbH. To this end SolarWorld AG can make available cash funds amounting to 250 million EUR and bank credit lines worth 750 million EUR under the proviso that the federal government provides a guarantee.

The SolarWorld Group which has so far been exclusively involved in solar power technology would subsequently develop Opel into the first 'green' European automotive group. A core prerequisite for the submission of the offer is the complete separation of Opel from the GM Group and a compensation payment of 40,000 EUR per German job (totaling 1 billion EUR).

At the four German Opel locations it is the idea of SolarWorld AG to continue the sustainable further development of the current successful model ranges and, additionally, to produce a new generation of vehicles with energy-efficient, low-emission drives in the future. The European development center in Rüsselsheim is already working on solutions for future-oriented electric drive vehicles like the 'Volt'. After the restructuring of the product range the tradition-fraught German car maker would especially offer electric drive and hybrid drive vehicles in the future as well as models equipped with the latest technology like extended-range electric drive vehicles that combine electric motors and combustion engines in a highly efficient manner.

Two years ago SolarWorld AG had in a similar case taken over the solar division of the Shell Group with a compensation payment of 100 million EUR, consistently modernized it at various sites in the USA and taken it into black figures in the course of this year.

"Sustainability is a comprehensive concept. The challenges of climate protection and of the market can only be met if we move on from automotive to solar-motive concepts", says SolarWorld Chairman and CEO Frank H. Asbeck.

The group has already been working for some years on the development and testing of electric drive vehicles that are propelled by solar energy and that even participate successfully in motor racing.

Further details about: SolarWorld AG