General Motors’ newly regained confidence that it can restructure Opel is in large part due to a better-than-expected performance of the US carmaker’s European subsidiary that has – at least partially – been funded by the European taxpayer.

Opel/Vauxhall is understood to have amassed more than €1bn ($1.4bn) in cash in recent months. Although some of this reserve has come from strong sales of Opel’s new top of the range Insignia sedan, it appears the biggest contributor is the bumper sales triggered by the scrapping incentives for old cars offered by governments across Europe.