Opel 'Should Consider Insolvency'

German carmaker Opel should consider entering insolvency, the country's interior minister has said. Modern insolvency law was "not set up for the destruction but for the preservation of economic assets", said Wolfgang Schaeuble. The comments came as executives from Opel and its parent General Motors (GM) met government officials and promised more details on a restructuring plan, the BBC reported. Opel has calling for a cash injection from Germany to help its survival, but Mr Schaeuble said that insolvency was a better option for Opel than relying on a state handout--and that such a move would not mean that it would have to go bust. "The public perception is that insolvency is associated with going bust or bankruptcy," he said. "But that is wrong. We must grasp that to survive such a crisis, modern insolvency rules are a better solution than the state taking a stake." Media reports suggest that the German government was angry that the bail-out proposal--which asked for €3.3 billion (£2.93 billion; $4.16 billion)--was simply a glossy 217-page brochure which read like an advertisement, rather than presenting any viable business plan. Finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said the plan was "no basis" for the government to make a decision on whether to grant state aid. German media have also reported MPs saying, off the record, that they were "shocked" to learn that Opel did not have any assets - with all factories being owned by GM in the US. Separately, there is confusion about whether Opel owns the intellectual property (IP) information about its vehicles. Read more.