German government officials on Monday got their first peek at Fiat's ''interesting'' bid to acquire Opel from General Motors and merge it with the Italian automaker and Detroit No.3 Chrysler to create a global car giant.
The plan was first illustrated to German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and later Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who last week successfully negotiated a partnership with Chrysler, which will eventually give Fiat virtual control over the America automaker.
Speaking to the press after his meeting with Marchionne, Guttenberg said Fiat's bid for Opel was ''interesting'' and now needed to be ''examined''.
Nevertheless, the German minister added that no decision on Opel would be made in the ''immediate future''.
He said it entailed between five and seven billion euros in government support, something which Berlin has said it would only consider once Opel was separate from GM.
Marchionne is reported to want to seal a deal by the end of the month in order to move forward with his plan to spin Fiat Auto from the Fiat Group and merge it with Opel and probably GM's other European marques, Sweden's Saab and Vauxhall, which produces cars and vans in Britain based on Opel models.
The new company would then be listed on the stock market and hold an initial 20% stake in Chrysler, which could become a majority share once federal loans are repaid.
Guttenberg told the press that German government conditions for authorising the sale of Opel included maintaining the Opel marque and employment levels.
Observers have noted that employment levels were of particular importance given that German federal elections will be held in September.
The Fiat plan, the minister said, included a consolidation of the work forces with some job cuts due to the shutting down of one of Opel's four plants in Germany, most likely the one in Kaiserslautern where some 25,000 are currently employed.
Earlier in the day, Steinmeier, who is also deputy chancellor, said that potential Opel buyers would have to keep all factories operating and also guarantee a future for the company's suppliers.
Fiat's main rival for Opel appears to be the Austrian-Canadian auto parts maker Magna International, which is reported to have joined forces with Russian carmaker GAZ and Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, to make a five-billion-euro offer for Opel.
Fiat's offer is said to be between 750 million and one billion euros.
In an interview published Monday in the Financial Times. Marchionne said a merger between Fiat and Opel was ''from an engineering and industrial point of view a marriage made in heaven''.
He added that creating a new company with Fiat, Chrysler and GM's European arm was ''an incredibly simple solution to a very thorny problem''.
In the interview, Marchionne also said that any job cuts in Europe would be divided between Fiat and the GM marques.
