Adam Opel GmbH unit has decided to close its Astra assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium, eliminating 2,300 jobs, according to Reuters. The Flemish government and General Motors Co., which owns Opel, declined to comment. Opel is not expected to reveal details about its turnaround plan until February.

Speculation that the Antwerp plant would be closed surfaced nearly a year ago—months before GM decided to sell control of Opel.

Opel’s favored buyers, Magna International Inc. and OAO Sberbank, indicated last summer they intended to shut down the Belgian facility. After GM decided in November not to sell Opel, it signaled that it planned to cut 8,300 jobs in Europe and described the Belgian plant’s future as “uncertain.”

Opel CEO Nick Reilly has said he wants to let GM Daewoo produce Opel’s future subcompact SUV in South Korea, rather than Antwerp. Daewoo will develop GM’s next-generation small-car platform, code-named Gamma, which will be used for future Corsa hatchbacks and Meriva multipurpose vehicles.

Opel hopes to attract €2.7 billion in aid from European governments to help its turnaround. The EU has repeatedly warned both the company and countries that host Opel/Vauxhall plants that promises of aid cannot be contingent upon job guarantees.

Yesterday British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said the U.K. is prepared to make a “major investment” in Vauxhall if GM pledges to continue producing vehicles in the country.

The World Bank says the world economy will reverse last year’s 2.2% contraction by growing 2.7% this year and 3.2% in 2011. But growth will slow in the second half of the year as government stimulus spending drops.

But the bank cautions that “considerable uncertainty” makes it impossible to forecast whether the recovery will be stronger than expected in 2011 or collapse, resulting in a new round of bank failures and another recession.

On the other hand, the bank says, a rebound in private sector confidence could accelerate the recovery. Even so, it says employment growth will remain weak, with relatively high unemployment continuing for many years.

The bank projects that the economies of high-income countries will expand by an average of only 1.8%, making them a drag on overall global recovery. Economic growth among developing countries will average 5.1%. China’s booming economy is likely to expand by 9% in 2010 and again in 2011. But the bank says China must focus on internal expansion rather than exports to maintain balanced growth.

A bid to buy Fiat SpA’s Termini Imerese assembly plant in Sicily is being prepared by India’s Reva Electric Car Co. and Italian private equity firm Cape-Natixis, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Cape-Natixis says the partners hope to have a memorandum of understanding ready by the end of next week.

Fiat has committed to closing the plant when the Lancia Ypsilon supermini built there is phased out in 2011. Termini Imerese is the smallest of Fiat’s six Italian plants and has been described as the most expensive to operate.

Bangalore-based Reva began making EVs nine years ago. Its current model is the NXR, a three-door hatchback, and the company plans to add a two-seat car, the NXG, in 2011. Last September Reva and General Motors Co. agreed to co-develop at least one EV based on an existing GM small-car chassis.

Reva showed two concept EVs at the Frankfurt auto show in September and said at the time it plans to introduce one of them in Europe this year.

Mazda Motor Corp. will introduce its redesigned Mazda5 multi-purpose vehicle at the Geneva auto show on 2 March.

Mazda5 multipurpose vehicle

The seven-passenger van will be the first production vehicle to feature the company’s “Nagare flow” design theme that has been previewed in several concept cars. The vehicle retains its sliding side doors, and the center seat in the second row can be converted into storage space.

In Europe, the new Mazda5 will be powered by a new 2-liter direct injection gasoline engine with automatic stop-start that emits 15% less CO₂ than the 2-liter gasoline powerplant it replaces. Mazda says a 1.8-liter gasoline engine is optional.

Volkswagen AG will build its fifth China car plant in Guangzhou and use it to produce at least 200,000 SEAT vehicles per year, Reuters reports. It cites an unidentified VW executive, who made the comments to China’s 21st Century Business Herald.

VW declined to confirm the report, telling Reuters its immediate goal is to boost capacity at existing plants in Nanjing and Chengdu. Last year the company said it will spend €4 billion in China through 2011 to add capacity and increase local research and development operations.

It was not immediately clear which of VW’s China partners, FAW or SAIC, would share ownership of the new assembly plant. It also isn’t clear which SEAT models would be made there.

VW sold a record 1.4 million vehicles in China last year, up 37% from 2008. The company says it expects to achieve its goal of 2 million annual sales in China before its original 2018 target date.

Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has declared his support for a Russian startup firm that wants to produce Golf-sized electric vehicles that would sell for about €8,800.

The company is being promoted by 44-year-old Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest person. Unidentified industry sources tell Reuters that Prokhorov is prepared to finance the startup for two years through his three-year-old Onexim Group private investment fund. Forbes has estimated his fortune at €6.7 billion.

Onexim does not own any assembly plants. But the Russian business daily Kommersant says Prokhorov plans a partnership with Yarovit Motors, a St. Petersburg-based maker of large commercial trucks.

Toyota Motors Corp. affiliate Toyota Tsusho Corp. and Australia’s Orocobre Ltd. have signed a preliminary agreement to develop a lithium mine in Argentina by the end of next year.

The move is seen as an effort by the Japanese carmaker to guarantee adequate supply of lithium to be used in batteries for its future hybrid, plug-in and all-electric vehicles. Toyota formed a battery-making venture with Panasonic Corp. three years ago, and the partnership took control of Sanyo Electric Co. in December.

Toyota Tsusho, which will own 25% of the venture, will first fund a €3.2 million feasibility study to develop a 118-sq-km area of the lithium-rich Salar de Olaroz reserve in Argentina’s Jujuy province. Orocobre will own 75% of the company and handle operations.

South America accounts for most of the world’s lithium ore, with Bolivia alone considered to have almost half the world’s supply.

BMW Mini will debut the Countryman—its fourth model and the first with four doors—at the Geneva auto show in March. The car goes on sale in Europe this year and in the U.S. in early 2011.

Mini Countryman

Billed as Mini’s version of a sports-activity vehicle, the Countryman will be offered with a choice of three gasoline and two diesel engines. All-wheel drive is optional.

Output ranges from 90 hp in the Mini One D Countryman up to 184 hp in the Mini Cooper S Countryman, which features a 1.6-liter, turbocharged gasoline engine with direct fuel injection and variable valve timing.

The top-of-the-line model can accelerate from zero to 100 kph in 7.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 205 kph.

Customers can choose between a three-passenger rear bench or two bucket seats. The bucket seats come with a long center console called the Mini central rail.

The number of unemployed people in the U.K. declined by 7,000 to 2.46 million in the three-month period through last November, reports the country’s Office for National Statistics. It was the first break in a steady rise in unemployment that began in the U.K. in March-May 2008.

The ONS says Britain’s unemployment is now 7.8%, down from 7.9% in December. Analysts caution that the jobless rate could rise again if the British economy does not recover. They also say the statistics suggest many people have abandoned efforts to find work.

The ONS notes that the improvement was helped by a rise in people taking part-time work. It says slightly more than 1 million workers—the highest number in at least 17 years—are working part time because they cannot find a full-time job.

BMW Group has named Torsen Mueller-Otvos to become CEO of its Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. unit at the end of March. Mueller succeeds Tom Purves, who is retiring.

Mueller has headed BMW’s global product management since 2008. He has held several sales and market positions at BMW during a span of more than 20 years and was in charge of relaunching the Mini brand. He was put in charge of BMW’s central marketing and brand management in 2004.

Mueller arrives at Rolls-Royce as the super-luxury marque is expanding its product lineup. The company has begun delivering its Ghost, sometimes called the “baby Rolls,” which is intended for owners who prefer to drive themselves rather than use a chauffeur. Rolls-Royce plans to produce about 1,000 Ghosts per year at its plant in Goodwood, U.K.