"The role of GAZ Group in the project would potentially consist of organizing manufacturing of passenger cars on its modern high-tech passenger car production site built in the Nizhny Novgorod plant in 2008," the company said in a statement according to Autonews.
"GAZ Group has a positive record of collaborating with Magna International and General Motors Europe on project development for the manufacture of popular cars for Russia and CIS markets," the company said.
GAZ has longly denied all rumors surrounding a potential involvement of the Russian automaker in the Opel bidding process, saying that it has absolutely no interest in purchasing the ailing German brand. However, the negotiations were disclosed last weekend by Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who disclosed that Magna International asked the country's second-largest car producer to join forces and buy Opel.
On the other hand, Fiat is still the main bidder for Opel, despite some reports hinting that Magna's proposal is more advantageous from a number of reasons. Opel Supervisory Board member Armin Schild said in an interview with Reuters that Magna International submitted a better proposal compared to Fiat's, pointing that the Austrian-Canadian joint venture is now favorite to buy the German unit.
"Magna wants a financial investment with other investors in a holding company," Schild said in an interview on Thursday.
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