General Motors Co. has joined the chorus of companies warning that car sales in western Europe will slump this year as scrappage programs wind down.

GM Europe President Nick Reilly predicts sales in the region will fall to between 13 million and 13.5 million this year from 15.1 million in 2009. He expects a sharp decline early this year and says sales volume will not return to 2008 levels for three years.

Yesterday John Fleming, CEO of Ford of Europe, told Dow Jones Newswires that car sales in western Europe will probably total between 13.5 million and 14.5 million this year. He notes that Europe’s underlying economy remains flat, with high unemployment and a weak housing market.

Fleming says last year’s scrappage schemes pulled ahead sales that otherwise would have occurred this year. Last October J.D. Power and Associates estimated that scrappage incentives generated about 2 million vehicle sales, including 500,000 pulled from this year.

General Motors Co. told the Swedish government on Monday that a deal to sell its Saab Automobile AB unit remains very unlikely. But Joran Hagglund, the country’s secretary for industry, insists “there is a small, small chance” that a buyer can be found.

Yesterday Saab dissolved its board of directors, turning over control to Detroit-based AlixPartners LLP, which GM has hired to wind down the Swedish carmaker.

Swedish government officials visited GM in Detroit on Monday to discuss options. GM acknowledges it continues to review proposals but has said repeatedly that it has seen none that meets its financial criteria.

GM bought 50% of Saab in 1989 and the remainder of the company in 2000 but has struggled to make the unit profitable. GM began looking for a buyer for the unit in December 2008.

General Motors Co. says its supervisory board will meet on Friday to finalize a plan to merge the management teams of GM Europe and Adam Opel GmbH into one entity. The goal is to make managers more accountable for performance that affects the company’s financial health.

GM Europe President Nick Reilly tells reporters at the Detroit auto show that accountability was often blurred under GM’s previous structure, which gave some executives responsibility for both local and regional or even global operations. Analysts say the system also caused clashes between GM Europe and Opel over the company’s priorities.

Reilly says GM expects to complete its restructuring plan for Opel this month. The company is seeking €3.3 billion from countries that host Opel/Vauxhall plants, a process Reilly says is “progressing quite well” in some countries but moving more slowly in others. He also says GM may contribute more than the previously reported €660 million to the effort.

GM also wants €265 million in annual wage concessions from Opel’s union. Reports say the company is seeking a two-year pay freeze for European workers.

Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne tells reporters at the Detroit auto show that the American carmaker could be ready for an initial stock offering as early as 2011.

Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy last June as a company 68% owned by a healthcare trust managed by the United Auto Workers union. Marchionne says one of the company’s primary goals is to monetize the trust’s ownership by enabling it to sell its shares to the public.

Fiat SpA, which currently owns 20% of Chrysler, can increase its stake to 35% by helping the American company introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles and meet U.S. government goals for investments in local vehicle and engine production.

Marchionne tells reporters in Detroit that it will probably be easier to repair Chrysler than it was to revive Fiat when he took over as CEO of the Italian company in 2004. He points out that Fiat was near collapse when he arrived but, unlike Chrysler, had no government-backed loans available. Marchionne was able to finance much of Fiat’s turnaround by persuading General Motors Co. to pay it $2 billion to shed its equity stake in the company and escape a put option that could have forced GM to buy Fiat.

Separately, Marchionne says Chrysler currently has “less than $6 billion” (€4.1 billion) in cash. The company emerged from bankruptcy with $4 billion in cash and said it had increased its cash to $5.7 billion by November. Analysts are watching the company’s cash level closely as a measure of its ability to survive until it can expand its product lineup with Fiat-based models over the next few years.

France employment minister Laurent Wauquiez says Renault SA should not move more production of its Clio hatchback to Turkey if doing so would result in layoffs or a plant closing in France, reports Agence France Presse.

Renault currently makes the Clio at plants in Flins, France, and Bursa, Turkey. The company reportedly is considering whether to produce its next-generation Clio exclusively in Turkey.

Wauquiez notes that the French government owns 15% of Renault and has given the company financial assistance during last year’s economic crisis. “We are not going to be spectators” and do nothing if Renault shifts production, he tells France’s RTL radio.

Continental AG says it has generated €1.1 billion by selling 31 million shares in a stock offering launched to help pay down debt.

Conti will combine the proceeds with a €2.5 billion loan it arranged in December to refinance €3.5 billion in debt that becomes due in August. The company piled up about €10 billion in debt in 2007 when it acquired the VDO auto electronics unit of Siemens AG.

PSA Peugeot Citroen is unveiling the C-Zero, an electric-powered four-seat car at this week’s Brussels auto show. The car will go into production as a Citroen model in the fourth quarter of this year.

At 3.48 meters long, the C-Zero is slightly shorter than a BMW Mini. Powered by a lithium-ion

Citroen C-Zero EV

battery, the car’s electric motor generates 64 hp and 133 lb-ft of torque. PSA says the C-Zero can accelerate from zero to 100 kph in 15 seconds, has a top speed of 129 kph and can travel about 130 km per charge. The car can be fully recharged in six hours with a 220-volt connection or in 30 minutes when plugged into a 400-volt recharging station.

PSA’s Peugeot unit showed its own prototype of the car, called iOn, at the Frankfurt auto show last September. Both cars have been developed under a partnership signed last March with Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Volvo Group CEO Leif Johansson has been elected as this year’s chairman of the commercial vehicle board of ACEA, Europe’s carmaker association. He succeeds Scania AB CEO Leif Ostling, who held the position last year.

Johansson takes over as Europe’s commercial vehicle industry struggles to overcome a 48% drop in sales last year. ACEA notes that truckmakers expect only slow improvement this year.

Fiat SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne says the company’s Alfa Romeo brand is not for sale—but he says the unit must show it has “a right to exist as a separate brand” before being allowed to expand into the U.S.

Last month Fiat Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo refuted speculation that the company might sell Alfa to Volkswagen AG.

Alfa introduced the 8C Competizione sports car in very small quantities in the U.S. in late 2008. Marchionne had planned to begin selling other Alfa models in the American market through select Chrysler dealers in 2011 but now says the brand must first stabilize its declining sales.

To cut product development costs, Fiat is considering a plan to produce several future Alfa models on Chrysler platforms.

Daimler AG says it will devote half this year’s €4.4 billion research and development budget to “green” technology to “attack” what it concedes is BMW AG’s lead in reducing CO₂ emissions.

Thomas Weber, who heads Daimler’s product development, tells Bloomberg News that the company intends to “set the benchmark” for greener vehicles. “There is no reason we should look to others,” he declares.

Daimler plans to introduce a diesel-electric hybrid option for its Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan in 2011. Weber says the system will boost highway fuel economy more than 50% to 17 km/liter. Mercedes-Benz already sells hybrid versions of the S-Class sedan and ML-Class SUV.

Weber says Daimler also will make automatic engine stop-start technology standard in all models this year.