Opel Chief Engineer Belts Out Drinking Songs to Revive GM Unit

Rita Forst, chief engineer at General Motors Co.’s unprofitable Opel brand, must bridge a cultural gap between the U.S. and Germany to overhaul the European model line-up. The challenge plays to her strengths.

As an executive at the carmaker’s powertrain unit, she’s belted out German drinking songs over dinners with Swedish colleagues to loosen people up. While heading GM’s diesel engine development center in Turin, Italy, she set up exchanges between German and Italian employees who were reluctant to cooperate.