GM rejects offer to sell Opel

GM has rejected an offer to sell it's German brand Opel.

The German solar energy company SolarWorld has made an offer to GM to buy its Opel brand, including all of its plants in Germany, saying it was ready to provide a cash sum of 250 million euros and bank credit lines of 750 million. It also promised a 1 billion euro payout to all Opel staff in Germany. SolarWorld said it planned to turn Opel into the first "green" car company.

GM promptly dismissed the proposal.

"This is pure speculation. We are not going to comment on that. Opel is not for sale," Karin Kirchner, a spokeswoman for GM Europe in Zurich, Switzerland, told Reuters.

GM is in dire need of cash. It has just secured a 1 billion euro loan guarantee from the German government to sustain operations in Germany for the Opel brand. GM is also lobbying the US government for a 25 billion US dollar bailout package for the Big 3 US automakers based in Michigan.

Many analysts believe GM will have to shed several of its brands if it is to survive. And GM has been selling off assets to raise cash, including liquidating its stake in Suzuki Motor earlier this week for 230 million US dollars.

Opel has been a part of GM since 1929.