Beijing Automotive made the non-binding proposal after examining Opel's books, Chris Preuss, a GM spokesman in Zurich, said Friday by phone, declining to provide details. The Chinese company's bid is being reviewed, he said, adding that talks with Aurora, Ontario-based Magna remain "on track."

Magna, Canada's biggest auto-parts manufacturer, was chosen in May by the German government as the preferred bidder for Opel, which has its headquarters in the Frankfurt suburb of Ruesselsheim. Progress has been slowed by disagreements over rights to use Detroit-based GM's technology and engineering designs, people familiar with the talks have said.

"The deal is unlikely to help Beijing Auto substantially unless the company buys designs and brings them back to China," Zhang Xin, an automobile analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Beijing, said yesterday.

Wong Hong, a Beijing Automotive spokesman, didn't answer calls to his mobile phone today.

SAIC Motor Corp., China's largest carmaker and the Chinese partner of General Motors, bought the design rights to MG Rover Group Ltd.'s Rover 25 and 75 models for US$116 million in 2005.

The UK, where Opel owns two factories making vehicles under the Vauxhall brand, may lend money to help complete the sale to Magna, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said Friday.

"We are prepared to financially underwrite that deal," Mandelson told reporters after meeting business, political and labor officials at Vauxhall's factory in Luton, England. Potential government aid would include loans and loan guarantees "for which we have to have interest paid and some securities."

GM is selling a majority of Opel as part of a global reorganization that includes the bankruptcy of its U.S. operations, closing or idling 15 factories in that country and cutting thousands of salaried and union jobs to return to profit. The automaker, which has been operating under protection from creditors since June 1, has lost US$88 billion since 2004, its last profitable year.

Fiat SpA, Italy's biggest manufacturer, and Brussels-based investment firm RHJ International SA also expressed interest in a stake in Opel before German authorities selected Magna as preferred bidder. Fred Irwin, chairman of the government-backed trust temporarily holding 65 percent of the GM division, said on June 29 that GM is looking at all bidders, with no preferences.

RHJ has also been in talks with GM, people familiar with the matter said late last month.

Mandelson said that Magna seems likely to prevail, though there are "some difficult issues."

Germany's government is backing Opel's rescue and has provided a 1.5 billion-euro (US$2.1 billion) emergency loan to keep the division solvent until GM completes the sale. Magna Chief Executive Officer Siegfried Wolf has repeatedly said he aims to reach an agreement in mid-July. Magna's offer is backed by Moscow-based lender OAO Sberbank and foresees Opel expanding in Russia in cooperation with local automaker OAO GAZ.

Beijing Automotive may have an advantage over Magna because it "can demand less capital input from the German government," Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald in London, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Both Magna and Beijing Automotive have "shadows" because the Chinese may look to "plunder" Opel's technology, while Magna's Russian partners may seek to do the same, he said.

Germany Deputy Economy Minister Jochen Homann said Friday in Munich that GM is "right to have a second or third option" for selling Opel, adding that talks with Magna are more advanced than those with other bidders.

Opel, identified by a lightning-bolt trademark, said Friday that second-quarter deliveries in Germany were its highest in five years, increasing 49 percent because of demand for the new mid-sized Insignia and a government rebate of 2,500 euros for a new car purchased when a driver scraps an old model. Buyers across Europe have ordered more than 130,000 Insignias, the carmaker said.