Europe’s industry ministers are to hold emergency talks tomorrow amid growing concern about Germany’s handling of the attempt to sell off General Motors Europe.

Thousands of workers at Vauxhall in the UK will have to wait to see who is being lined up as the carmaker’s new owner after a key meeting ended today with no decision.

GENERAL Motors is interested in retaining a minority stake in its restructured European operations and plans to have a framework for a deal to sell the division by the end of the month.

Car giant Vauxhall was today hoping that production would resume at Ellesmere Port following wildcat strikes that brought the plant to a standstill.

US stocks fell moderately today as investors found little reason to extend a year-end buying spree.

Angry workers at an Opel car plant in Germany remained on unofficial strike today, continuing their protest against plans by parent company General Motors for thousands of job cuts and defying calls from union leaders and the government to return to work.

A strike which has halted production at an Opel car plant in Germany entered its third day today.

General Motors is to slash 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2006 in a plan aimed at saving £278m (€404.9m) a year.

General Motors Corp has no plans to merge Adam Opel AG with GM's Zurich-based European headquarters, GM Europe head Robert Lutz has said in a pre-release of an interview with weekly German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche.

Car rental group Avis Europe today said it had signed Europe’s largest ever fleet partnership deal with US car maker General Motors.

The struggling European operation of General Motors will cut some 1,600 jobs in a restructuring programme announced earlier this year, the chairman of its German-based Adam Opel AG unit said.

Opel says it won't axe workers and close European plants, following talks with union representatives.

Union leaders say they are ready to call for strikes at Vauxhall after they failed to secure a reprieve for a factory threatened with closure.

Union leaders say they are ready to call for strikes at Vauxhall after they failed to secure a reprieve for a factory threatened with closure.