General Motors Co. says it has given its Adam Opel GmbH unit a $930 million capital infusion and named several new senior executives to the Russelsheim, Germany-based operation.

Opel CEO Nick Reilly will take on the additional duties of Managing Director Hans Demant, who becomes GM’s vice president for global intellectual property rights. GM named Reilly acting CEO in November when Carl-Peter Forster left.

Rita Forst, Opel’s executive director of vehicle systems and integration, will assume Demant’s other role as the unit’s engineering chief. Mark James, president and CFO of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. and a Reilly ally, will become Opel’s CFO.

The capital infusion, which took the form of prepayment on Jan. 4 for Opel engineering services to the parent company, follows GM’s $900 million long-term loan to Opel in November. GM is seeking €3.3 billion ($4.7 billion) of European loans to help restructure Opel.

Reilly will step down from Opel’s supervisory board, along with Uwe Loos, Guenter Michels and Bernd Pierburg. To replace them, GM named Steve Girsky, a director and senior adviser to CEO Ed Whitacre; Michael Millikin, its general counsel; Bill Parfitt, chairman of GM’s U.K. unit; and Karl-Friedrich Stracke, GM’s global vehicle engineering chief.

General Motors Co. is expected to decide as early as today whether to continue talks about selling its Saab Automobile unit to Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars NV or proceed with liquidating the Swedish brand, according to Bloomberg News.

The news service, which cites anonymous sources, says Spyker is the only remaining contender for Saab. Last week GM, which says it is studying the latest bids, turned control of Saab over to liquidators at Southfield, Mich.-based restructuring firm AlixPartners LLP.

Bloomberg says Spyker is offering $75 million in cash and $325 million in preferred shares in the new company. GM also would retain $100 million of Saab’s current liquidity. The news service says GM is evaluating whether Saab has a future as an independent carmaker.

Bloomberg says if GM were to accept Spyker’s bid, it would insist that Spyker’s chairman and largest investor, Vladimir Antonov, leave the Dutch company. Antonov and his father Alexander own 30% of Spyker and control Russian bank Convers Group—a financial backer of the Spyker bid GM rejected in December. The news service reported previously that GM was uneasy about the Antonovs’ participation but did not elaborate.

Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche says Spyker is in talks about joining forces with a group led by Luxembourg-based private equity firm Genii Capital to make a new bid. Genii, whose consortium includes Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone and Swedish businessman Lars Carlstrom, made its first bid for Saab earlier this month.

Carlstrom tells Reuters his group was in contact with Spyker last week, but he wouldn’t say what was discussed. Spyker CEO Victor Muller tells the news service Spyker and Genii are not discussing a joint bid.

Ford Motor Co. and former affiliate Mazda Motor Corp. are discussing a breakup of their three-way joint venture in China with Chongqing Changan Automotive Co., according to newspaper reports that cite unidentified sources.

Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co., which operates plants in Chongqing and Nanjing, is 50% owned by Changan, 35% by Ford and 15% by Mazda. The companies are reportedly considering a plan to make the Chongqing operation a 50:50 venture between Changan and Ford, while the Nanjing facility would become a 50:50 Changan-Mazda venture. Unclear is the future ownership of the venture’s third passenger car plant, which is set to open in 2012 in Chongqing, and an existing three-way engine venture in Nanjing.

The Nikkei says Ford and Mazda have reached an agreement in principle to dissolve the venture by 2012. But Mazda tells other news organizations that nothing has been decided and adds that any such plan would require the Chinese government’s approval.

Ties between Ford and Mazda have loosened since Ford sold all but 13.8% of its 33.4% Mazda stake in November 2008. Ford said in December it was in talks with its partners about changing the Chinese venture’s structure as Ford seeks to boost its 2% market share in China. News reports yesterday say Mazda is seeking more operational freedom to increase its presence in China. The venture sold about 320,000 vehicles in China last year, up 50% from 2008. About 70% of those sales were Ford brand vehicles.

Ford and Mazda have said they remain committed to a more limited long-term partnership, including joint ventures in Flat Rock, Mich., and Thailand. Ford says they plan to focus more on joint development of vehicle subsystems and technology, while doing less platform-sharing.

General Motors Co. says it is paying director Steve Girsky $900,000 per year in stock grants for serving as a special adviser to CEO Ed Whitacre, according to a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

He also will be compensated for travel and living expenses in Detroit. Girsky, a New Yorker who says he’s spending almost all his time in Detroit these days, also is paid a director’s salary of $200,000 in stock grants. He can cash in the shares in one-third increments beginning in 2012. The company says his compensation is within the guidelines set by Kenneth Feinberg, the federal government’s pay czar for bailed-out companies.

Girsky, a longtime auto analyst turned private equity manager, was named to GM’s post-bankruptcy board in July by the United Auto Workers union’s retiree healthcare trust, which owns a 17.5% GM stake. Whitacre, who joined GM as chairman in July, appointed Girsky to the advisory post on Dec. 1 when the former AT&T chairman added the CEO title. Whitacre, who had no auto experience before joining GM, has said he has relied heavily on Girsky’s advice since July.

The prices Americans paid for goods and services, which increased 0.4% from October to November, inched up 0.1% last month, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor.

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, also increased 0.1% in December. Prices of used cars and trucks increased 2.5%, while prices of new vehicles fell 1%.

For all of 2009, the consumer price index jumped 2.7% as energy costs soared 18%—the largest energy increase since 1979. By comparison, the index edged up 0.1% in 2008, the smallest increase in 54 years. Last year prices of new and used vehicles rose 4.9% and 9.2%, respectively. The core index rose 1.8% last year, matching the 2008 increase.

Economists say companies may find it difficult to raise prices this year as unemployment hovers around 10%. The Federal Reserve has said it expects inflation to remain tame in coming months, thus allowing the central bank to keep interest rates low to foster economic growth.

Automakers sold 14.48 million passenger vehicles in eastern and western Europe last year, compared with 14.72 million in 2008, as damage from the recession was buffered by widespread government scrappage programs in the latter months of 2009, according to ACEA, the European auto trade group.

Even a 16% jump in volume in December from a year earlier to 1.07 million vehicles wasn’t enough to erase a 14% decline in the first five months of the year. Volume has posted year-over-year increases in every month since June.

For the year, sales in western Europe edged up 0.5%, thanks to increases of 23% in Germany and 11% in France. Volume in Italy was flat, while demand declined in Spain (-18%) and the U.K (-6%). In eastern Europe, demand tumbled 27% to 848,600 vehicles.

Scrappage incentives boosted demand for small, fuel-efficient vehicles in 2009, which benefited carmakers such as Fiat (+6%), Ford (+2%), Renault (+4%) and Volkswagen (+1%), but left behind makers of luxury vehicles. VW, PSA and Ford continue to rank first through third in sales. General Motors slide 9% from fourth to fifth place in sales, trading places with Renault. Fiat remained sixth.

Even with a 5% sales decline, Toyota captured seventh place in annual volume, passing BMW, which fell 14%, and Daimler, which dropped 13%. Also gaining ground were Nissan (+9%), Hyundai (+27%) and Kia (+6%). Chrysler sales plummeted 42%.

Fisker Automotive Inc. has raised $115 million in private equity funding to finance development of its plug-in hybrid cars. Investors include A123 Systems, which signed an agreement last week to supply Fisker with lithium-ion batteries, and Ace Investments. Existing investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, agreed to increase its investment.

Obtaining the fresh capital was a condition of a $529 million loan from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, which is part of a $25 billion program to help suppliers and automakers develop and build more fuel-efficient vehicles. Fisker says the new public and private financing will help pay for final work on the Karma plug-in sports car set to arrive this summer, as well as development and factory retooling for the Nina family sedan due to go into production in late 2012.

Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by former shareholders of Daimler AG for an undisclosed amount, says Bloomberg News.

The news service, which cites documents filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, says a federal judge has scheduled a Feb. 8 hearing on the settlement. The shareholders sued Kerkorian and his Tracinda Corp. in 2004, alleging Tracinda profited from insider information when it sold 7.6 million Daimler shares in 1999 for $662 million.

The lawsuit claims that the late James Aljian, a Kerkorian adviser who served on the automaker’s board, alerted his boss about a confidential report concerning a sharp drop in the company’s cash flow. Kerkorian’s stock sale before the news was publicly announced in July 1999 avoided $120 million in losses when Daimler shares fell.

Toyota Motor Corp. aims to double its global production of hybrid vehicles from last year to 1 million units in 2011, according to The Nikkei.

The Japanese newspaper says Toyota has notified suppliers it plans to produce 800,000 hybrids in Japan this year, 900,000 in 2011 and about 1.1 million in 2012. Hybrid production in China, the U.S. and other countries will add about 100,000 units next year.

By 2011, hybrids are expected to account for 30% of Toyota’s Japan production, up from about 20% last year, The Nikkei adds.

Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo has named Louis Schweitzer, former chairman and CEO of Renault SA, as its chairman until the company’s annual shareholder meeting in April. He replaces Finn Johnsson, who unexpectedly announced his departure late last week, citing other commitments.

Analysts suggest Johnsson, who has been chair since 2004, left because investors are unhappy about the company’s poor results. Volvo has failed to rebound as quickly as its rivals from the global slump in the heavy-truck market. The company recorded a $413 million loss in the third quarter of 2009, its fourth straight year-over-year loss.

Schweitzer has served on Volvo’s supervisory board since 2001, when Renault sold its truck unit to the Swedish company in exchange for a 20% Volvo stake. Rumors have circulated that Renault wants to sell its Volvo shares to raise capital. Analysts caution that Schweitzer’s expanded role should not be interpreted as a sign that Renault wants to deepen its ties with Volvo.

At Renault, Schweitzer also oversaw the company’s alliance with Nissan Motor Co. in March 1999. He stepped down as CEO in 2005 and as chairman last year. Currently he also serves as chairman of pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca.

Suzuki Motor Corp. says it will end a joint venture to develop hybrid vehicles with General Motors Co. next month—and also will probably scrap a fuel cell project with GM—as part of its new alliance with Volkswagen AG.

The Japanese company plans to work with VW on a variety of environmental technologies, including hybrid and electric vehicles. Suzuki says it hopes to continue to produce its Splash small cars for GM’s Opel unit. GM sold the last of its 20% Suzuki stake in 2008.

VW and Suzuki agreed to their equity tie-up last month and Suzuki completed the sale of 19.9% of its shares to VW on Friday for $2.4 billion. Suzuki has agreed to use as much as half that amount to buy a 2.5% stake in VW. Suzuki says the new partners plan to commonize parts, co-develop platforms and engines and share purchasing in emerging markets.

Suzuki also says it will review its agreements to buy diesel engines from PSA and Renault because VW will become its main supplier of diesel engines. Suzuki reportedly plans plan to continue to make diesels in India based on Fiat designs.