General Motors' Opel brand has obtained a loan guarantee from Spain but still needs 2.6 billion euros from Germany, the head of GM Europe said today.
"We need a guarantee for more than 3.3 billion euros in Europe in order to get loans from banks. In Spain we have already secured a guarantee for a concrete project and can now negotiate with the banks," Carl-Peter Forster told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung published today.
"In Germany, we need a guarantee of 2.6 billion euros," he added.
A GM Europe spokesman told Automotive News Europe today that a credit guarantee of 200 million euros has been obtained from the provincial government in Aragon, Spain, where Opel has its Zaragoza factory.
The money will be used toward developing the next generation Meriva small minivan, which will be built in Zaragoza starting in 2010.
The spokesman said GM is talking with the Spanish, German and UK governments to secure further billions of euros in credit guarantees.
"These are the countries where we have our biggest operations and where we are focusing our efforts," the spokesman said.
GM Europe faces a looming liquidity crunch. On March 4, GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said the carmaker's European operations would run out of money in the second quarter unless governments come quickly to the company's aid.
GM Europe submitted a rescue plan for Opel at the end of February, but the German government has so far voiced reservations about supporting the plan with state aid.
GM has proposed splitting off Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall into a separate unit that will bring in outside investors.
Forster also today told German radio station Deutschlandfunk that insolvency is not a topic for Opel. Some German politicians have suggested that insolvency could be an option while Opel restructures its business.
Forster said GM might reduce its stake in Opel to a minority and some parties have already said they are interested in the German carmaker.
The head of Opel's workers' council, Klaus Franz, separately told German magazine auto motor sport that Opel might become profitable in 2011 and might sell an additional 200,000 cars until then once its severed its ties with GM.
GM development chief Bob Lutz told the magazine that the U.S. carmaker was prepared to reduce its 100 percent stake in Opel to a minority and cooperate with the company as it does with its GM Daewoo Technologies joint venture.
Reuters contributed
