General Motors’ German unit Opel needs around EUR3.3bn (US$4.15bn) in liquidity, a company source has said.


Opel has already applied for EUR1.8bn in state aid in Germany, but now estimates this should rise to EUR2.5bn euros, the source told Reuters on Friday.


German chancellor Angela Merkel has said GM’s Opel must present a clear plan before the government could consider state aid.


She has also said each state could decide for itself what to do.


“It must be a decision for every state to decide on aid – yes or no, and in what form.”

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Thuringia economy minister Juergen Reinholz yesterday told the Berliner Zeitung his state was ready to consider taking a stake in Opel if the subsidiary was spun off.


“We want to do everything we can to help Opel,” he said.


He added that the eastern state, home to an Opel plant, was prepared to consider taking a direct stake in the company “if it is released into independence”.


Thuringia could also offer aid or guarantees to the carmaker, he added.


GM has said its European business, which also includes Saab in Sweden and Vauxhall in Britain, would likely post a profit in 2011 at the earliest after radical cost cuts.


“We can’t be precise about our help until we hear about precise plans from General Motors. But in first discussions about a guarantee, a sum of EUR20m-40mwas what we talked about for Thuringia,” the minister added, according to Reuters.


“Big cuts or even a closure of an Opel plant are not acceptable to us,” Reinholz said.


Juergen Ruettgers, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, said earlier this week GM had no concrete plans to shut Opel factories, after meeting GM’s head Rick Wagoner in Detroit.


“But due to the difficult economic situation there must be a plan for the future, not just in Europe but also in America,” Ruettgers said.


Ruettgers said a condition of support from the government would also be that the company keeps its four German Opel plants and retains its patents and brand rights.


Germany economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has said he was working on a fresh rescue plan for Opel that need not include the government temporarily taking an equity holding in the automaker.


He told German television station ZDF it was important to consider “other models than those that are currently being talked about” and solutions that would not require an immediate stake purchase by the state.