Merkel pledges bailout for Opel

The German government has finally agreed to provide support for Opel, a day after the US government rejected General Motors’ request for an extra $16bn (£11bn) of aid.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “An investor [in Opel] will of course have state support. I am assuring you of that explicitly, not only for the state governments, but also for the federal government. We have tools for that.”

While Opel has asked for €3.3bn (£3bn), Vauxhall is also looking for money from the UK government. Vauxhall’s managing director, Bill Parfitt, was said to be asking today for £600m. GM has officially denied that it is seeking anything from the UK government, despite the UK being the fourth largest market for GM globally.

Matt Rigby