No Winner on Opel Lottery

The months of talks, bids and threats regarding the future of German manufacturer Opel have accounted for nothing so far, as the talks held yesterday between the involved parties have not reach any conclusion. The reason behind the stall are, it seems, the US Treasury and Opel's mother company, GM. Still, according to German ministers, the remaining two bidders are, as was to be expected, Fiat and Magna.

"We have made demands on the U.S. Treasury and expect answers by Friday and we will need these answers in order to agree a plan," Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was quoted as saying by Reuters. "We don't have the security yet that we need to commit to bridge financing today."

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said that it is possible a solution may be found by Friday, but added that the German officials were surprised by GM, who asked an additional 300 million euros from Opel's home country.

"I think we can say clearly that a big part of the problems tonight came from the combination of new figures from General Motors and a not very helpful negotiating stance from the Americans, from the U.S. Treasury," Roland Koch, the premier of Opel's home state, Hesse, told Autonews.

Fiat, the company long credited with the biggest shot at taking over Opel said the entire deal now looks like a lottery. The Italian manufacturer says it has done everything possible to win the company.

"We have done what we had to do and so we have the feeling that we have done everything possible. In a lottery, it's best to wait for the result," Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told AFP.