BAIC Wants to Sell Nearly 500,000 Opels in China

In case the company receives the green light to take over Opel, BAIC intends to sell almost half a million cars manufactured by the German automaker in China by 2015. The plans were mentioned in the non-binding offer document submitted to General Motors and revealed by Reuters. According to the papers, BAIC is aiming to build a strong dealership network in China comprising around 400 stores.

The dealers would sell an annual total of 485,000 units of the Opel Corsa, Meriva, Antara, Anstra and older versions of Vectra in China, Reuters informed.

Basically, BAIC wants to do that by importing cars from Opel's factories around the world. Approximately 60,000 Opels would be produced by other facilities while in 2012, the Chinese manufacturer plans to open the first Chinese Opel plant. It would have an estimated output of 200,000 units per year, with output to be increased in the next years to 500,000 vehicles a year.

BAIC is eyeing a 51 percent stake in the German manufacturer, with the remaining 49 percent to be owned by General Motors. Magna International, the Canadian - Austrian manufacturer who is currently seen as favorite to takeover the German brand - is targeting a 55 percent share together with its Russian partner Sberbank, while the remaining share would be split between General Motors (35 percent) and its employees (10 percent).

BAIC also revealed it would need around 2.64 billion euro in government funds while Magna International previously requested 4.5 billion euro. The Chinese manufacturer also revealed plans to maintain operations in Germany but said it could close the Belgium factory and cut European workforce.