General Motors Co. has hired restructuring firm AlixPartners LLP to wind down its Saab Automobile unit, even as the automaker says it is evaluating several bids for the Swedish brand that were submitted late last week.

GM insists its review of bids is not affected by the decision to proceed with a wind-down, which it says could take several months. The company, which put Saab up for sale a year ago, says it is shutting down the brand now because none of the previous bidders had adequate financing.

Southfield, Mich.-based AlixPartners was a key adviser during GM’s restructuring last year and billed GM $23 million for three months of work this summer. The firm’s vice chairman is CEO of Motors Liquidation Co., which is winding down the assets GM left behind in bankruptcy.

Swedish government and labor officials criticize the Saab wind-down as premature. Swedish officials flew to Detroit over the weekend to appeal to GM to keep Saab running until a sale can be arranged.

Dutch supercar maker Spyker Cars NV, whose previous bid was rejected last month, says it made a sweetened offer. Luxembourg-based private equity firm Genii Capital and Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone say they submitted a bid for a majority stake in Saab. Swedish news reports named a third bidder: a Swedish investor group led by Jan Nygren, a former executive of aircraft maker Saab AB and a former Swedish defense official.

General Motors Co. plans to begin shipping the tooling for the upcoming Saab 9-5 midsize sedan and wagon late this week from an assembly plant in Russelsheim, Germany, to its Buick factory in Shanghai, according to Dagens Industri.

But GM refutes the report in the Swedish newspaper, which cites unidentified sources. GM suggests the story is a misunderstanding.

GM agreed last month to sell some Saab assets, including tooling for the outgoing 9-5 and the current 9-3 models, to Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. for an estimated $200 million. BAIC is expected to ship that tooling to China soon. The revamped Buick LaCrosse made in GM’s Shanghai plant is based on the same platform as the next-generation 9-5.

India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. expects to decide by December whether to contract with another manufacturer—probably Navistar International Corp.—to assemble its compact pickup trucks in the U.S., reports Dow Jones Newswires. The company plans to launch an Indian-made version of the truck in the U.S. in March.

The news service quotes Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s auto unit. He says the company dropped an earlier plan to buy a North American plant. Mahindra wants to build vehicles locally to avoid the so-called “chicken tax” of 25% on imported trucks.

The company will sell the truck, which is based on its Scorpio SUV, through 300 dealers lined up by U.S. distributor Global Vehicles Inc. The company plans to introduce a compact SUV sometime later. Both vehicles will be equipped with four-cylinder “clean” diesel engines. Mahindra aims to position them as low-cost, fuel-efficient alternatives to trucks already on the U.S. market. It has not yet disclosed pricing.

Mahindra and Navistar, a Warrenville, Ill.-based maker of commercial trucks and diesel engines, already operate two joint ventures in India. One makes trucks and buses, and the other produces diesel engines. Mahindra already has three farm tractor plants in the U.S.

Automakers sold 10.26 million passenger vehicles in China last year, up from 6.4 million units in 2008, as the government offered tax breaks and other car-buying incentives, according to the China Daily, which cites the China Passenger Car Assn.

Carmakers introduced a record 221 new or revamped cars, SUVs, minivans and multipurpose vehicles in 2009, the newspaper says, using statistics from the China Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers. The trade group expects about 100 new or revamped models this year. China Daily says domestic brands accounted for 30% of passenger vehicle sales. Models produced by foreign automakers or joint ventures made up the balance.

CAAM is expected to report detailed sales figures today that include commercial vehicles and buses as well as passenger vehicles. The newspaper says the data will show a 44% increase in overall vehicle sales to a record 13.5 million units. That would make China the world’s largest auto market, passing the U.S. on an annual basis for the first time ever.

Automakers sold 10.43 million light vehicles in the U.S. last year. But because many Chinese consumers buy commercial trucks for personal transportation, China’s motor vehicle total is considered a better comparison to American volume.

Motor vehicle sales in China will grow 15% this year to an estimated 15.53 million units from last year’s pace of more than 40%, says the country’s vice minister of industry and information technology.

To bolster sales, the government will boost scrappage subsidies by as much as threefold this year to $730-$2,600. But analysts say the larger incentives will be more than offset by a hike in the sales tax to 7.5% from 5% in 2009 on vehicles with engines of 1.6 liters or smaller. Vehicles of that size accounted for 85% of the growth in passenger vehicle demand last year, according to the China Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers.

The price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the U.S. has jumped 8 cents in the past week to $2.74 per gallon nationwide, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Today’s gasoline price is the highest since October 2008 and 95 cents higher than a year ago.

Analysts say the recent increase tracks an 18% jump in crude oil prices in the past four weeks caused by a weak dollar, expectations of economic growth that would boost energy consumption and a spike in demand for heating oil caused by cold weather.

Crude oil futures ended last week at $82.75. Friday’s close was more than $10 higher than a month earlier and twice the year-earlier price.

Employers in the U.S. shed a net 85,000 jobs last month, according to the Dept. of Labor. Only the exodus of 661,000 discouraged job seekers from the labor market kept the unemployment rate steady at 10%.

The Labor Dept. says 1.7 million Americans opted out of the job market in the second half of 2009, the highest number for a six-month period since 1961. For the full year, employers eliminated 4.2 million jobs, which brought the annual unemployment rate to 9.3% from 5.8% in 2008. The American economy has lost more than 8 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

The unemployment report fueled fears that the recovery is stalling. But it reinforced economists’ earlier warnings that job growth will be very slow this year. The job market remains a drag on consumer spending, including the purchase of big-ticket items such as cars.

The only bright spots in the Labor Dept. report were the declining pace of U.S. job losses and the addition of 46,500 temporary jobs. Companies typically hire temps before increasing their regular workforce.

The pace of job losses also is slowing in Europe. The European Union’s Eurostat statistics agency says the 16-member eurozone lost 102,000 jobs in November, the smallest loss since July 2008. Even so, the region’s unemployment rate hit an 11-year high of 10% in November, up from 9.9% in October. Eurostat says 22.9 million people are jobless in the 27-nation EU, including 15.7 million in the eurozone. The EU jobless rate increased to 9.5% from 9.4% the month before.

German suppliers Continental AG and Schaeffler Group have postponed their plans to merge for the foreseeable future, according to Handelsblatt, which cites the prospectus for Conti’s proposed €1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) stock sale.

The German newspaper also cites unidentified Conti sources who say the companies would not merge for at least a year but don’t offer a reason. The two companies have been locked in a power struggle since Schaeffler acquired control of Conti in a hostile takeover in 2008. They agreed in June to merge.

The companies have been working with bank lenders since last year to reduce their debt burdens. Bearings maker Schaeffler has been crippled by the €11 billion ($16 billion) of debt it amassed while buying its Conti stake. The tire and parts maker carries a similar debt load from its acquisition of Siemens AG’s VDO automotive electronics unit in late 2007.

Conti’s stock sale is intended to pay down some of that debt. Handelsblatt says German securities watchdog BaFin is expected to approve the prospectus for that sale today. Schaeffler and its two banks, which own nearly 90% of Conti, say they will still own more than 75% after the share offering.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius gasoline-electric hybrid sedan was the top-selling vehicle in Japan last year, marking the first time a hybrid has led the market on an annual basis, says the Japan Automobile Dealers Assn.

Prius demand tripled year over year to 208,900 units in 2009 despite a 9% decline in Japan’s auto market. Analysts credit the upswing to government incentives on fuel-efficient vehicles and the popularity of the latest-generation Prius, which was launched in May. Honda’s Fit ranked second among vehicles (excluding minivehicles), posting sales of 157,300 units. Honda’s Insight hybrid, which debuted in February, placed eighth with 93,300 units.

When minivehicles are included, Suzuki’s WagonR and Daihatsu’s Move ranked second and third, respectively, behind the Prius.

In the U.S., Prius sales of 139,700 units were down 12% last year, compared with a 21% decline industrywide. The hybrid placed 16th among U.S. models, according to Autodata Corp. Prius sales increased 30% in December as the auto market recovered.

Automakers sold a record 3.14 million passenger vehicles, commercial trucks and buses last year in Brazil, up from 2.82 million units in 2008, thanks to a government tax break for car buyers, according to industry trade group ANFAVEA.

Demand for passenger cars and light vehicles increased 13% to 3 million units. Sales of trucks and buses fell 12% to 131,700 units. The year’s volume got a boost from December’s 51% year-over-year surge in sales of passenger cars and light trucks, and a 42% jump for commercial vehicles.

For the year, Fiat was the market leader in Brazil with sales of 737,000 motor vehicles for a 24.5% market share, followed by Volkswagen (22.7%), General Motors (19.8%), Ford (10.1%) and Honda (4.2%).

Brazil’s auto market remains the fifth-largest worldwide, after China, the U.S., Germany and Japan. The country vaulted two spots to fifth in 2008. Economists expect the Brazilian economy to rebound strongly this year. ANFAVEA predicts sales will increase 8% this year. Dealer group Fenabrave forecasts a 10% gain.

ANFAVEA says vehicle production in Brazil slipped 1% in 2009 because of a 35% plunge in export volume. Demand fell sharply in other Latin American markets, especially Argentina and Mexico.

GMAC Financial Services Inc., which became Chrysler Group LLC’s preferred lender in April, says it has approved wholesale financing for 93% of the 1,474 Chrysler dealers who applied. GMAC conditionally accepted an additional 14 retailers.

GMAC says it has rejected 83 dealers for “failure to meet credit standards.” It adds that Chrysler Financial had previously stopped lending to most of those dealers and many of them have been in liquidation for some time.

GMAC replaced Chrysler Financial LLC as the primary source of Chrysler dealer and customer loans when the automaker entered Chapter 11. Chrysler left bankruptcy with 2,400 dealers, some of whom get their financing from other lenders. The U.S. government owns 56% of GMAC after injecting $16.3 billion of capital into the finance company, including $3.8 billion last month.

General Motors Co.’s Opel will make its promised announcement “soon” about a new management team to help restructure the European unit, Opel CEO Nick Reilly writes on a company blog.

Reilly said last month that the unveiling of an Opel restructuring plan would be pushed back to this month. He didn’t offer any new guidance on the timing of the plan, which calls for reducing capacity by as much as 25% and shedding 8,300 jobs.

Reilly tells the Financial Times that Opel will replace 80% of its existing lineup with new or revamped models over the next three years. He reiterates the unit is aiming for an operating profit margin of at least 4%-5% within four years.

Opel labor chief Klaus Franz tells reporters he still expects union talks with management to be completed by mid-February. The company is seeking €265 million ($385 million) of annual savings from its hourly workers. Franz says the two sides still disagree about GM’s plans to close an assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium, and labor’s demand that GM reduce its 5% royalty on every Opel and Vauxhall vehicle sold. Franz says delays in restructuring cost the company €700 million-€900 million ($1 billion-$1.3 billion) in 2009.

General Motors Co. says it has awarded the advertising account for its Cadillac brand to the New York City office of U.K.-based Bartle Bogle and Hegarty.

In 2008 GM spent $270 million on Cadillac ads, and it spent $81 million in the first half of last year, according to ad tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence.

GM put the Cadillac account up for review in October. Boston-based independent Modernista agency, which has handled Cadillac since 2006, opted not to participate. Rumors circulated that GM might give the account to a unit of either Publicis Groupe or Interpublic Group, two conglomerates that already handle most of GM’s business. Publicis Groupe is a minority shareholder in BBH.

Cadillac is BBH’s first automotive account. But the agency already represents Ally Bank, a unit of GMAC Financial Services Inc., a former GM subsidiary.