When the 2011 Buick Regal goes on sale in the second-quarter of 2010, it will be offered with a 2.4L inline 4-cylinder engine making 182-hp and a maximum torque of 172 lb-ft. A turbocharged variant making 220-hp will join the lineup later next year.

However, for those of you looking for more power from the new Regal (basically an Opel Insignia OPC version of the Regal) you’re in for a treat. According to Bob Lutz, under consideration is the revival of the Regal GS with the same 335-hp 2.8L turbocharged V6 and all-wheel-drive as the Regal’s European sibling, the Opel Insignia OPC.

Also under consideration is the Regal Sport Wagon, a Buick version of the Insignia Sports Tourer that will compete with the upcoming Acura TSX wagon. Lutz said that GM may definitely consider the model if the new Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon does well in the U.S. market.

Now only if we can get the Regal Sport Wagon in a GS trim – we’ll be satisfied.

Click here for more news on the Buick Regal.

2011 Buick Regal:

- By: Omar Rana

Source CARandDRIVER

GM announced today that it had paid back another 200 million euros to the German government towards the bridge loan that it received back in June in order to save its European subsidiary Opel motors from bankruptcy, according to Automotive News. To date, GM has paid back 1.1 billion euros of the 1.5 billion euro loan.

There was another 4.5 billion euros offered to assist an Opel restructuring, but that offer is now doubtful considering that GM has decided to keep Opel as opposed to selling to Magna International Inc., as was originally planned.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson had apologized to Germany for the way the Opel deal was handled, and earlier today, the company also reaffirmed that it does in fact wish for state aid in order to overhaul Opel. This reaffirmation comes in response to GM chairman Ed Whitacre’s comments that Henderson’s apology was unnecessary, and that GM was financially healthy enough to go at restructuring without state aid.

“I don’t agree whatsoever with Henderson in that regard. The decision-making process may have been confusing for some, but we have nothing to be apologetic for,” Automotive News quotes Whitacre as saying.

“The restructuring of Opel for long-term sustainability requires involvement and financial support from all stakeholders, including employees and governments,” GM Europe said in a statement on Friday. This is a hot-button issue on the German political scene since GM reneged on its decision to off-load 55% of the company to Canadian company Magna International and its Russian partner, Sberbank. Opel currently employs 50,000 people, half of which work in Germany. The company also has plants in Britain, Spain, Belgium, and Poland.

- By: Stephen Calogera

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson was hanging out in Germany earlier this week in an effort to repair relations after the Detroit automaker announced last week that it will keep Opel and restructure it, putting a surprising end to plans to sell the brand to Magna International.

Henderson has previously said that GM could seek assistance from the European government to help pay for the estimated $4 to $5 billion restructuring costs involved in getting Opel to be competitive again. Well, things aren’t looking so good for Henderson or GM.

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said that GM, not Germany, should pay to fix Opel.

“I expressed my expectation that General Motors should basically carry out the financing itself,” Bruederle said.

Bruederle also said that executives from GM apologized over the lack of communication when it decided not go ahead with the sale of Opel and said that the Detroit company will present their restructuring plan for Opel soon.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters

General Motors Company CEO Fritz Henderson, who is currently visiting Opel’s headquarters in Ruesselsheim to repair relations, said that Opel will not play a global role in the empire of the Detroit automaker. Nonetheless, Henderson said that GM will give the European brand more freedom.

“We have a strategy in Brazil around Chevrolet … It’s a strong brand; the last thing we usually need is another brand,” he said.

Henderson expressed very little interest to market Opel vehicles outside of Europe or even moving the company’s stats from a limited liability company to an incorporated stock company, reports Automotive News.

“Opel is a regional brand and I don’t see that changing. That doesn’t mean I’m closed to ideas about how it can be used elsewhere; but the measure of the Opel brand’s success will be Europe, because if you don’t win here all the discussion of exports will be irrelevant,” Henderson said.

Sorry to shatter your dreams of seeing Opel branded vehicles on U.S. roads.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Reuters

General Motors Company’s CEO Fritz Henderson is in Germany meeting with leaders of Opel to discuss the brand’s future. Opel spokesman Ulrich Weber said that Henderson wanted to get a firsthand look at the situation at Opel headquarters in Ruesselsheim.

The talks today ended without any clear plans for the future of Opel’s five plants in Germany. Henderson will hold more talks on Tuesday.

Henderson is being accompanied by Nick Reilly, director of GM’s international operations and interim CEO of Opel until GM finds a replacement for Carl-Peter Forster, who is leaving the company.

GM announced last week that it will keep Opel and restructure it, putting an end to plans to sell the brand to Magna International and Russian lender Sberbank. The deal was backed by the German government and Opel workers.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

According to sources close to the matter, Carl-Peter Forster, who is leaving General Motors of Europe, may join Tata Motors. Forster’s decision to leave GM came after the Detroit automaker unexpectedly decided to keep Opel instead of selling majority share to Magna International. Forster had strongly advocated a sale to Magna and Russia’s Sberbank.

Sources say that Forster has been in talks with Tata Motors about taking up a position in Europe for the Indian automaker.

GM’s head of international operations, Executive Vice president Nick Reilly, will be in charge of GM’s European operations until a replacement for Forester is found.

It was reported last week that Bob Lutz will take Forster’s position on the supervisory board of Opel.

Forster, who turned down a big job offer at GM’s Detroit headquarters a year ago, is known as a talented auto executive. He has previously held an executive position at BMW.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

Earlier this week, General Motors surprised German official and labor unions by backing out of plans to sell Opel to Magna International and Russian bank Sberbank. CEO Fritz Henderson said that the Detroit automaker now hopes to get the European government to help it restructure Opel but could use some of its $50 billion it received from the U.S. government.

GM’s decision to keep Opel will probably include it cutting around 10,000 jobs. Henderson said that GM will seek assistance from the European government to help pay for the estimated $4 to $5 billion restructuring costs.

He said that Opel will be able to pay for most of the restructuring itself.

“Part of it is from … GM,” Henderson said. “Things have improved there, as far as liquidity position. … That would be our principal source of doing it.”

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Free Press

A source close to General Motors said that Bob Lutz, the company’s marketing head, will become chairman of the supervisory board of Opel to help the restructuring plan. Lutz, 77, will not take a direct management role in Opel the source said. He is already a member of the Opel supervisory board, which meets three to four times a year.

Earlier this morning, it was reported that the current CEO of Opel, Carl-Peter Forster, is leaving GM of Europe after the Detroit automaker decided to keep Opel instead of selling it to Magna International.

GM said that it expects the restructuring of Opel to cost 3 billion euros ($4.42 billion USD).

- By: Omar Rana

According to a report by Spiegel Online, the head of General Motors’ European business, Carl-Peter Forster, is leaving the company after GM’s board of directors decided to keep Opel last week. A former BMW executive, Forster had strained ties with GM after being in favor of the Magna deal.

Forster was expected to head Opel under Magna International. His departure from General Motors would mark the first high-profile manager to exit as a result of GM’s decision to keep Opel and restructure it. Spiegel Online said that GM plans to replace Forster with Nick Reilly, who is the head of international operations based out of Shanghai.

A GM Europe spokeswoman declined to comment but Opel said that Forster was still be chairman and an announcement would be made should there be changes.

Last week, GM said that it expects the restructuring of Opel to cost 3 billion euros ($4.42 billion USD), which it says lowers the costs associated with outside bids for the brand.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Reuters

U.S. Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said yesterday that the Obama administration did not get involved with General Motors’ decision to keep and restructure the Opel brand.

“The administration was not involved with this decision, which was made by GM’s Board of Directors,” Reilly said.

GM announced yesterday that it has decided to keep Opel and expects the restructuring of the brand to cost 3 billion euros ($4.42 billion USD).

Following GM’s restructuring during its bankruptcy process, the United States Treasury is the majority shareholder of the Detroit automaker with about a 60 percent stake. It provided GM with more than $50 billion in loans.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters

General Motors’ board of directors said today that it will keep Opel and restructure it, putting an end to plans to sell the brand to Magna International. GM said that it expects the restructuring of Opel to cost 3 billion euros ($4.42 billion USD), which it says lowers the costs associated with outside bids for the brand.

“Given an improving business environment for GM over the past few months, and the importance of Opel/Vauxhall to GM’s global strategy, the GM Board of Directors has decided to retain Opel and will initiate a restructuring of its European operations in earnest,” GM said in a statement.

“We understand the complexity and length of this issue has been draining for all involved,” CEO Fritz Henderson said. “However, from the outset, our goal has been to secure the best long-term solution for our customers, employee, suppliers, and dealers, which is reflected in the decision reached today. This was deemed to be the most stable and least costly approach for securing Opel/Vauxhall’s long-term future.”

Magna had no comment on the GM decision.

- By: Omar Rana

According to a report by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s new government will take a new look at the sale of General Motors’ Opel unit to Magna International and may consider an arrangement where the brand remains with GM.

“The new government will take another look at decisions made up to now on Opel and imminent conditions to be set by the European Commission,” trust member Dirk Pfeil told the newspaper.

“The result could be a solution where Opel stays completely within the General Motors group,” said Pfeil, who is a member of the Free Democrats (FDP), coalition partners to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in the German government which will be sworn in later this week.

GM’s board of directors will meet on Nov.3 to reconsider the deal.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters

The European Union is in the process of reviewing the Opel situation and the process by which Magna and Sberbank got involved, according to John Smith, GM Group Vice President, Corporate Planning and Alliances.

“Such a review is usual and customary when extensive government financial support is involved.” says Smith. “Last week, the Directorate-General for Competition expressed concerns about possible limitations on the availability of government financing for all Opel bidders, and how that may have influenced the selection process.”

There have also been changes made to the Magna/Sberbank proposal since the GM Board last convened on September 9, and those changes will be reviewed, along with Minister zu Guttenberg’s letter, at the Board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting on November 3.

It was last reported that the head of EU competition wants to allow General Motors to reconsider the sale of its Opel brand.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: GM FastLane Blog

Neelie Kroes, the head of EU competition, told Germany on Friday that General Motors should be allowed to reconsider the sale of its Opel brand to Magna International and its Russian partner Serbank. Kroes said that there were “significant indications” that aid promised by the government to the New Opel was subject to pre-condition that a specific bidder was selected to acquire a majority of the shares.

She said that “a precondition for aid would be incompatible with EU state aid and internal market rules, reports Automotive News. Kroessaid that GM should be allowed to reconsider the result of the bidding process with assurance from Germany that aid would be available to Opel regardless of the choice of investor.

Just last month GM announced that it is planning to sell 55 percent of Opel to Magna/Sberbank, while it will hold 35 percent and will give the other 10 percent to employees of Opel.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Earlier this week when General Motors made it official that the Opel Insignia will be coming to the United States badged as the Buick Regal, we were only thinking about one thing and one thing only – will Buick offer a high-performance version like the Opel Insignia OPC?

According to the folks over at GMInsideNews, GM will offer a “sport” model of the Buick Regal sedan, however it has not decided on the name as of yet (a GS badge is expected). Sources say that the sport Regal will be fitted with the 280-hp 3.6L V6 from the Buick LaCrosse and will have Brembo performance brakes. The Opel Insignia OPC is powered by a 2.8L V6 turbo engine making 325-hp (we’d much rather have that too).

Like the Opel Insignia OPC, the Buick Regal sport trim will offer a 6-speed manual transmission as an option along with all-wheel-drive.

The base Buick Regal model will offer two 4-cylinder ECOTEC engines. The base engine will be a 180-hp direct-injected 2.4L ECOTEC, which is currently available in the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and the 2010 GMC Terrain. Moving up a level, the Buick Regal will also offer a 220-hp 2.0L ECOTEC direct-injected, turbocharged engine. All Regal models will come with a 6-speed automatic and optional all-wheel-drive.

GMI says that initial orders for the 2011 Buick Regal will start in six months. Production will start in the summer of 2010.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: GMI

According to sources close to the negotiations, General Motors Company will sign a deal on Thursday to sell a majority stake in Opel to Magna International. It was confirmed about a month ago that under a new deal, Magna and Sberbank will own a 55 percent stake in Opel, while GM will hold a 35 percent stake and employees will get a 10 percent stake.

CEO Fritz Henderson said that a deal on the sale of Opel could come this week, reports Automotive News.

Magna is expected to cut as many as 10,500 jobs at Opel in Europe, with nearly half of those coming from Germany.

- By: Omar Rana

Porsche has threatened to pull its existing contract with Magna to build the next-generation Boxster and Cayman in Austria starting in 2013. The Stuttgart automaker said that it may instead move production to Karmann in Germany. The move comes as Porsche aims to guard its engineering and production cost secrets for its upcoming roadster and coupe.

Insiders said that the plans to build the Boxster and Cayman in Austria are being heavily reviewed following Magna’s bid to take control of General Motors Opel brand.

At the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said that the German automaker, which is in the process of purchasing 49 percent of Porsche, may be forced to look for new engineering partners if Magna’s bid to buy Opel is successful.

BMW officials said that they are also studying whether “plans to build the Mini Crossover at Magna could be advantageous to Opel.”

- By: Kap Shah

Source: AutoWeek

According to Magna’s co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf, Magna International plans to cut as many as 10,500 jobs at Opel in Europe, with nearly half of those coming from Germany.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference earlier today, Wolf said that the cuts were a part of the Canadian company’ plans for Opel.

GM announced last week that it will a 55 percent stake in Opel to Magna, while keeping 35 percent to itself and giving employees a 10 percent stake.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News