Beijing Auto Bids on Opel; Other Chinese Auto Companies Make News
May 26, 2009
Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. has submitted an offer to buy Germany's Opel, on the eve
of the German government announcing which bid it prefers for the General Motors subsidiary, Reuters
reported.
Meantime, German officials are pressing the three other Opel suitors to improve their current offers. The three are Italy's Fiat, Canadian auto supplier Magna International with its backing of Russian investors, and Belgium-based RHJ International.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, whose company may officially take over Chrysler on Wednesday, was in Berlin Tuesday presenting his company's offer for Opel to government officials. He reportedly left those meetings not optimistic.
Meantime, Magna and RHJ were presenting their plans to Opel's powerful labor unions, after which a labor leader said he thought Magna was the leading contender, Reuters said.
GM has the final say in what company buys Opel, but the German government has a big say. The government is being asked to invest billions in loan guarantees as part of the deal, though some contingencies are pressing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to allow an "orderly insolvency" of Opel.
Merkel hosts a meeting on Wednesday to settle on the preferred bidders.
Other Chinese Automakers in the News
Meantime, other Chinese makers are making significant moves and news as well.
As Marchionne lobbied German officials for Opel, Fiat and China's Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group were making their venture to jointly produce cars in the Guangzhou province official with the signing of an agreement. Guangzhou already has joint ventures with Honda and Toyota. Last week, it purchased a 29 percent stake in Chinese automaker Hunan Changfeng.
In Greece, the courts ruled against Daimler, which had sued China's Shuanghuan Auto because the Noble it was selling in the country looked too similar to its Smart Fortwo. The Greek courts ruled that the vehicle varies in technical specifications and that external similarities are irrelevant.
Compiled by Edmunds' analyst David Greene.
Photos
1 - Shuanghuan Auto's Noble
2 - Daimler's Smart Fortwo
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:02 PM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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