May 16, 2009, 13:46 GMT
Berlin - A bid by Magna, the Canada-based auto components group, for General Motors' Opel and Vauxhall factories in Europe foresees those plants doing subcontracting work for other car brands, two news reports Saturday said.
Fiat of Italy, which has already won control of Chrysler, is making a rival bid for General Motors Europe (GME).
The newspaper Welt am Sonntag said it would appear Sunday with a report that Magna, bidding in conjunction with GAZ and Sberbank of Russia, was likely to close GME plants at Luton, England and Antwerp, Belgium, but keep all four of Opel's German sites.
Fiat has said it would close most of one German site, at Kaiserslautern.
Quoting persons associated with Magna, Welt said Magna aimed to not only make Opel cars but also to assemble cars for other manufacturers such as Ford and Peugeot.
A German weekly, Automobilwoche, published a similar account, saying, 'Magna's idea is to establish an 'open platform' that could be used by multiple manufacturers so that model series can be made efficiently right through their life-cycle.
It quoted associates of Magna chief executive Siegfried Wolf, saying Peugeot and Ford had already expressed interest. Magna was also planning to establish a market for its cars in Russia.
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