Beijing Auto has reasons to fail in Opel, Saab and Volvo bid

Shanghai, June 15 (Gasgoo.com) Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC), China's fifth-largest carmaker, has reasons to fail in Opel, Saab and Volvo bid, and it will not engage in such talks for the time being, reported China Business News on Monday, quoting a company source familiar with the situation.

The source told the newspaper that BAIC will not hold such talk anymore because the foreign automakers are not really interested in it.

The person elaborated that "BAIC did hold a brief talks with Opel, but with our bid arriving late and German's government's pressing on a Magna deal, BAIC's acquisition of Opel becomes an unlikely outcome."

Furthermore, Saab said it wants to avoid competition with the same range of GM models in Chinese market, while Volvo does not want to sell its brand nor transfer production to China, according to the person.

Analysts said BAIC's interests in foreign brands are primarily that of technology and designs, which could allow it to develop own brand car scheduled for sale in 2010.

But that could be a potentially disastrous outcome in the eyes of employees and governments of foreign automakers, which want to see its own economy and manufacturing capability hurt as little as possible by any such acquisitions.