GM's board last Friday angered the German government by postponing a decision on whether to sell Opel to Austrian-Canadian parts manufacturer Magna and its Russian partners. Berlin wants to resolve the Opel problem before the Sept. 27 federal election. The German government and regional states are only prepared to grant Opel €4.5 billion worth of state aid if GM sells Opel to Magna.

Opel remains important to GM partly because of its development center in Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt, where the platform for all GM mid-range cars has been developed. German engineers had a major role in designing the great hope of the GM group, the Chevy Volt electric car.

The issue is highly sensitive politically because the US government has held a majority stake in GM ever since the US automaker filed for insolvency this year. Washington has pumped more than $50 billion into the group that has been posting losses for years. Russia is also likely to be perturbed by GM's apparent reluctance to sell Opel, because Moscow was involved in the planned Magna deal via state-owned Sberbank.

German Government Getting Impatient

GM's about-turn may be a chess move aimed at putting the German government under pressure and thereby extracting more concessions in a sale of Opel.

GM said on Monday it needed further information about the state guarantees and the financing of the planned Opel takeover. "We want to clarify the open questions and hope for an agreement soon," said a spokesman for GM Europe.

GM's chief negotiator John Smith will travel to Berlin this week to brief German officials on the options for Opel.

While German officials are angry about the delay, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm refrained from openly criticizing the US position. "The issue can't be resolved through confrontation," he said. Wilhelm said there had been contact at working group level between the German chancellery and the White House at the weekend. He said there was time to resolve issues before the next regular meeting of GM's board on Sept. 8 and 9.

A spokesman for US President Barack Obama said he doesn't want to get involved in GM's decision-making.

The delays aren't affecting Opel's operating business, the German government said. The company got a €1.5 billion state bridging loan and therefore has sufficient financing, said Wilhelm. Besides, Opel like other manufacturers has benefited from the government's "cash for clunkers" program, which has boosted car sales this year and served as a model for automobile stimulus programs in other countries including the United States.

Meanwhile, engineering trade union IG Metall has threatened industrial action if GM doesn't reach a decision on Opel's future soon. IG Metall chairman Berthold Huber told Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaperthat if GM ignores the interest of its European workforce, workers will have no choice but to resort to "means of civil resistance." He did not say what that would entail.

On Monday, Klaus Franz -- the head of Opel's works council, the powerful employee representative body that has an important stake in company decisions -- said the workforce would take action if no decision is reached by the end of this week. One media report said Opel workers were considering demonstrating in front of the US Embassy in Berlin this weekend.