On Monday, France's PSA Group announced an agreement to buy Opel from General Motors in a deal valuing the business at 2.2 billion euros, or $2.3 billion. This move will mark the automaker's official exit from Europe and ends a relationship dating back to the 1920s.
"I'm actually surprised [General Motors] got money from that," Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Monday. "General Motors is so much better without this."
It's extremely difficult to close a plant in Europe, too, Cramer explained. He noted that auto executives will always say, "We have too many plants in Europe, but there's nothing we can do about it."
While the deal is positive for General Motors, it likely won't be reflected in its stock immediately, Cramer said, because there are other issues troubling the auto industry — "particularly driver-less cars."
New technology is something that should be front-and-center for executives, Cramer emphasized. Machine learning, automated intelligence — robots even — are constantly improving, he said.
Shares of General Motors fell more than 2 percent in afternoon trade Monday but have risen more than 19 percent over the past 12 months.
Separately, the automaker also announced Monday that it will be laying off more than 1,000 of its Michigan workers in May, shifting production to a different plant in Tennessee.
— Reuters contributed to this report.