The German government is understandably furious. For months it had been arm-twisting General Motors to agree to the salvage of its European car operations by selling control of its German Opel brand together with its other European marques to the Canadian car component manufacturer Magna International.

German state banks had provided GM with some €1.5bn ($2.2bn) in bridging loans and Berlin promised to support the Magna deal with about €4.5bn of financial aid. The German unions too finally agreed on Tuesday to significant cost-cutting measures to help seal the transaction.