Opel should remain an independent company with current management in place after a possible sale to PSA Peugeot Citroën, GM CEO Mary Barra has insisted in negotiations with the French company.

Germany’s Manager Magazin said Barra had asserted that PSA chief Carlos Tavares wanted continuity at Opel so the board should remain in office and CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann in his current post.

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The report, citing sources close to the talks, said Barra’s clear goal was the sale of the (loss-making) German subsidiary while PSA wants a deepening of existing co-operation between the brands (which is about to produce two Opel/Vauxhall SUVs on platforms shared with PSA using PSA engines).

Barra reportedly offered Tavares, among other things, use of GM’s electric car platforms for a licence fee.

Manager Magazin reported earlier Neumann wants to make Opel/Vauxhall a pure supplier of electric cars by 2030 and that scenario is also possible under PSA ownership, its sources said.

Together with Chinese partner and major shareholder Dongfeng, the French automaker is developing electric cars but the first models based on the new architecture won’t be ready until 2019. GM is currently launching the Chevrolet Bolt and its European Opel Ampera-e version with a range of around 500km.

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The magazine said GM and PSA managers have been negotiating for months on either the sale of Opel or stronger cooperation between the two.

PSA expects the purchase to result in higher sales volumes and lower costs per car, managers involved in the talks told the magazine.

The talks wre expected to have ended early in March but, as the possible sale becomes more and more a political issue, negotiations could now take longer.