DETROIT — Carl-Peter Forster, the chief executive of General Motors Europe who runs its struggling Opel unit, will leave the company.
GM said in a statement Friday that Forster, 55, would advise the company on picking a new Opel CEO. The statement gave no time frame for his departure.
Forster will be replaced temporarily by Nick Reilly, who is now president of GM’s international operations and who once ran Opel’s Vauxhall operations in the United Kingdom, said a person briefed on the executive moves. The person asked not to be identified because that move has not been announced publicly.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson said that no other Opel management changes are expected at this time.
The executive moves come after the GM board decided this week to keep its European Opel and Vauxhall units. The board rejected a plan to sell a majority stake in Opel to a group led by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank.
Forster, who has been GM’s top European executive since June 2004, advocated for the Magna deal before the sale was shot down by the GM board.
