German Chancellor: China Still in the Hunt for Opel

The German government is sending strong signals to GM to move on the Opel deal with Magna — or else. Their message: “Get on with it, or Opel will be Chinese.”

Last night, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on German TV that a Chinese investor is still interested in Opel. She didn’t mention BAIC, but she didn’t have to. The day before, her Economy Minister Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg had said that there are still other interested parties, “BAIC for example.” According to Automobilwoche [sub], Merkel complained that there still is only a letter of intent between GM and Magna, and no clear progress. Negotiations with government-owned GM appear to be bogged down. On May 30th, exhausted politicians had announced that a deal had been reached between GM, Magna, Russia’s Sberbank, and the German government. Berlin agreed to underwrite a loan guarantee of €1.5 billion. After the deal, Germany was asked for more money, but they refused.

Fiat is also still interested in Opel, and hoping for a breakdown of the negotiations.

The already highly political matter has become even more political. Germany’s SPD party championed the Magna deal against the reservations of Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a member of Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc. Last weekend, the SPD collapsed in the European Parliament vote. The CDU/CSU won almost twice the SPD vote. This is regarded as a test for the all-important German national elections in September.