The Russians are coming; no, the Chinese are coming. Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation’s five-minutes-to-midnight bid for General Motors’ Opel business seems, at first blush, to have several points that might commend it to the US carmaker and German government. For a start, it offers GM a residual 49 per cent stake in Opel, beating the 35 per cent GM would keep under the Russian-backed offer from Canada’s Magna.

BAIC is also offering an equity investment of €660m and requesting only €2.64bn in state loan guarantees – against the €4.5bn demanded by the Magna consortium. It plans a $2bn Opel factory in China, giving the German brand a foothold in the world’s biggest car market.