© GM Company

BERLIN — The last vehicle has rolled off Opels production line at its flagship factory in Bochum. General Motors is shutting the German plant as it restructures its lossmaking European subsidiary.

In its hayday, the plant employed some 22,000 people. With the production of the last Opel Zafira compact van, the factory is closing after 52 years. It is expected that the last vehicle produced at the plant will not be sold, but rather dedicated to social work.

Around 300 of the plants 3,000 workers are expected to remain employed at the facility in a parts operation, but the others face an uncertain future.

Detroit-based GM is trying to get Opel to break-even by mid-decade, and is plowing 4 billion euros ($5 billion) into the European business.

As part of its agreement with unios, GM has guaranteed that through 2018 workers at three other Opel plants in Germany wont face layoffs.