GM, Opel await funding decision

— -- The government has set no deadline to decide whether to approve the plan and has not decided whether it would contribute government money or credit, according to GM Europe spokeswoman Karin Kirchner.

She said that GM and Opel "remain open for equity ownerships or investors." GM has said it would split off Opel, which operates under the Vauxhall name in the U.K., into a stand-alone company. GM would keep a majority interest and sell stakes to the German government or others.

GM's public outline for Opel's survival has three prongs, Kirchner said:

•GM injects 3 billion euros (about $3.8 billion at Monday's exchange rates) into Opel.

•Governments provide 3.3 billion euros in credit or credit guarantees.

•Opel cuts its ongoing annual structural costs by 1 billion euros.

GM says that the confidential plan it delivered to the German government would make Opel profitable by 2011.

In a statement, GM Europe said it "is working with representatives of the German government to answer questions and provide additional information that may be required to move the funding process forward."

Its president, Carl-Peter Forster, said, "The discussion with governments is being driven by the exceptionally weak economic situation that has seriously eroded consumer demand for vehicles and shut out the availability of credit for financing operations. We're moving to restructure our business with as minimal an impact on jobs as possible, but the reality is that … plant closings must be considered."

GM's other European unit, Saab, is in Sweden's equivalent of bankruptcy reorganization. GM has set aside $142 million to pay suppliers' bills so Saab can get parts and keep operating.

Emphasizing the global nature of what Renault/Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and others have flatly declared an auto depression, Monday reports included: