General Motors Co. will move production of the Opel/Vauxhall Zafira minivan to Ruesselsheim in Germany from its Bochum factory.

Ruesselsheim and Vauxhall’s plant in Ellesmere Port, England, had been in the running to gain Zafira production after the 50-year-old Bochum plant in Germany’s Ruhr region closes at the end of next year.

“This will make Ruesselsheim the site to exclusively build the two largest and most work-intensive Opel model classes — the Opel flagship Insignia in all its versions and the Zafira Tourer,” Opel said today in a statement.

On Monday, Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, reported that Ruesselsheim or Ellesmere Port were being considered for Zafira production

“There are several alternatives to Bochum, and Ruesselsheim and Ellesmere Port are on the short list,” an Opel supervistory board member, who did not want to be identified, told Automobilwoche.

Ellesmere Port, which builds the Astra compact car, is the best solution financially, but Ruesselsheim, which builds the Astra and the mid-sized Insignia, had a great deal going for it politically, the board member said.

The official said detailed studies have been drafted on the factories under consideration, also including the Opel plant in Gliwice, Poland.

“Economic aspects mainly work to Ellesmere Port’s advantage. But I personally believe that we must keep the Zafira Tourer in Germany because anything else would be difficult to arrange,” the board member said.

Bochum is the only plant building the Zafira Tourer. Production will cease at the end of 2014, two years before the end of the model’s life-cycle, after Bochum’s workers voted against measures that would have extended production until the beginning of 2016.

The closure will reduce Opel’s excess capacity as Europe’s car market continues to decline. It is part of GM’s strategy to achieve profitability in Europe by 2015.

Sales of Zafira minivans in Europe fell 14.6 percent to 10,205 in March, according to data from market researcher JATO Dynamics. In the first three months, deliveries fell 17.8 percent to 20,371.