No UK closure plan: Vauxhall bidder

Belgian investment group RHJ International is vying with Canadian firm Magna International to buy the European arm of ailing General Motors, which owns Germany's Opel as well as Vauxhall.

Vauxhall employs around 5,000 UK staff at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and Luton, Bedfordshire.

There have been fears a new owner could close the Ellesmere Port site - which makes the Astra model - and the Luton factory, where the Vivaro commercial van is made.

But the chief executive of RHJ International, Leonhard Fischer, told the Sunday Times: "We are very strong supporters of both these plants and of the Vauxhall brand. We want to keep a strong industrial and brand footprint in the UK."

Mr Fischer plans to lay off 10,000 of GM Europe's 58,000 staff but said job losses would be spread across the company's operations.

RHJ has offered to pay 275 million euro (£234 million) for the business, and has asked the German government for up to 3.8 billion euro (£3.2 billion in loans. The British Government could also contribute to the deal, the newspaper added.

A cloud of uncertainty has hung over the UK business after US parent General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this summer, forcing it to break itself up and put the European arm up for sale. The US Government now owns 60% of GM after it became the second of the 'big three' Detroit car makers to go into bankruptcy in June.

A number of other would-be acquirers have been in the frame for the European arm, including Beijing Automotive Industry Holding, although the race has boiled down to RHJ and Magna.

Vauxhall is one of the great names of British motoring with a history tracing back more than 100 years. It was bought by GM in 1925. The firm has produced some of the UK's most popular vehicles such as the Victor, Cavalier and Corsa as well as the Bedford Van.