Opel to phase out production at Bochum GERMAN carmaker Opel, the loss-making arm of US auto giant General Motors, will press ahead with plans to phase out auto production at one of its key German factories, Bochum, at the end of 2014, earlier than planned. "We've made it clear that we won't hold any further discussions" on the issue, an Opel spokesman said on Friday. A proposed agreement for keeping Bochum open until the end of 2016 - in exchange for a wage freeze, the giving up of some fringe benefits and other cost-saving measures - was rejected by unions and employees on Thursday. "We therefore assume that production will end earlier, in 2014," the spokesman said. Under a deal worked out by GM at the end of February, Opel had offered to keep car production in Bochum until the end of 2016 after which the plant would be retained as a components and logistics employing 1200 people, compared with 3200 at present. But in a vote on Thursday, workers at the plant rejected the deal, with about 76 per cent voting against the cost cuts.