Spyker Cars NV has presented a new bid to buy General Motors Co.’s Saab Automobile unit for $75 million (€52 million) in cash and $325 million (€226 million) in preferred stock in the new company, according to Bloomberg News.

GM could decide as early as today whether to continue talks with Spyker, the news service says. It cites an anonymous source who says that Spyker is the only remaining bidder. Wirtschaftswoche claims that Spyker might form an alliance with a last-minute bidder group led by Luxembourg-based Genii Capital and Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone. But Spyker tells Reuters the two contenders are not discussing a joint offer for Saab.

Spyker’s latest bid would permit GM to keep $100 million (€70 million) in Saab’s cash, unnamed sources tell Bloomberg. They add that GM is insisting that Spyker Chairman Vladimir Antonov be replaced as part of any deal. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that GM is uneasy about a deal involving Vladimir and Alexander Antonov, who own 30% of Spyker and control RMC Convers Group, a Russian bank.

GM has set several soft deadlines for cutting off discussions about selling Saab after earlier deals with Koenigsegg Group AB and Spyker collapsed. Last week GM Europe President Nick Reilly said negotiations could run into February, although the American carmaker has begun to concurrently wind down Saab.

Renault SA has agreed to split output of the next-generation Clio 4 small car between France and Turkey.

Renault currently makes the Clio in Flins outside Paris. Media reports said the company was considering moving all production to its plant in Bursa, Turkey, when the new model debuts in 2013. But Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn agreed to let the two facilities share production after a meeting on Saturday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Last week Sarkozy pointedly declared that France, which extended a €3 billion loan to Renault last year, did not intend to see jobs shift out of the country. But the French government stepped back from last week’s threat to increase its leverage over Renault by raising its 15% equity stake in the carmaker to 20%. On Friday Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said the government could exercise sufficient influence on Renault without buying more stock in the company.

Meanwhile, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes is pursuing her demand for details from the French government to help determine whether France’s demands violates EU competitive rules.

General Motors Co. has injected €650 million into its Adam Opel GmbH unit, announced a new management board for the company and confirmed Nick Reilly as CEO with global responsibility for all Opel/Vauxhall activities. He was named acting CEO in November.

GM also is merging the management of its GM Europe operation into Opel. Reilly has been president of GM Europe since November.

Opel’s management board, effective immediately, gains two new members: Rita Forst, engineering, and Mark James, chief financial officer. They join four board members who continue their assignments:

• Reinald Hoben, manufacturing
• Holger Kimmes, human resources
• Tom McMillen, purchasing
• Alain Visser, sales, marketing and aftersales

Reilly and three others—Uwe Loos, Gunter Michels and Bernd Pierburg—resigned from Opel’s supervisory board. Replacing them are:

• Steve Girsky, GM board member and advisor to GM CEO Ed Whitacre
• Michael Millikin, GM general counsel
• Bill Parfitt, chairman of GM United Kingdom Ltd.
• Karl-Friedrich Stracke, GM vice president of global engineering

Hans Demant, who had been managing director of Opel and GM Europe’s vice president of engineering, has been reassigned as GM’s vice president of global intellectual property rights. Reilly will assume Demant’s Opel duties.

PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have been discussing at least four equity swap options—one of which would give PSA a majority stake in the Japanese carmaker, says Bloomberg News.

The companies have said they are looking for ways to jointly produce vehicles under a broad strategy partnership. Last month The Nikkei reported that PSA was interested in acquiring 30%-50% of MMC. But Bloomberg noted at the time that the French carmaker is carrying about €2 billion in debt and a below-investment-grade credit rating that will make it difficult to pay for the deal. PSA could issue more stock, but that would dilute the stake held by the company’s family owners to 25% from 30%—something the families have said they will not permit.

Bloomberg, citing two unidentified sources, says there was no support for one option that would give PSA 51% of MMC in exchange for about €1.25 billion and an 18% stake in PSA. The news service says other options involve PSA taking a smaller stake in MMC or MMC acquiring more than 18% of PSA.

Analysts say MMC would favor a deal that generates needed cash. PSA could use the partnership to gain access to growing Asian markets. A tie-up would be attractive because there is little overlap in product or markets between the two companies, experts note. But they also tell Bloomberg that the lack of product overlap would make it more difficult to achieve economies of scale.

Daimler AG sold its 37% share of MMC in 2004 after refusing to bail out the Japanese company when its sales collapsed amid a scandal involving decades of product defect coverups. MMC has reported losses over the past four quarters but expects to report a full-year profit of about €509 million for the fiscal year ending 31 March. PSA is expected to post a loss of €826 million for 2009.

Toyota Motor Corp. aims to achieve annual production of 1 million hybrid vehicles next year, The Nikkei reports.

The newspaper says Toyota has told its suppliers in Japan to plan for domestic hybrid production of 800,000 units this year, 900,000 in 2011 and about 1.1 million in 2012. Toyota also makes hybrids in Australia, China, Thailand and the U.S.

Hybrids will account for about 30% of Toyota’s domestic vehicle production next year, up from 20% in 2009, according to The Nikkei.

Daimler AG confirms it is in negotiations with OAO GAZ about a joint venture to produce light commercial trucks in Russia, says Vedomosti. GAZ declined to comment.

The Russian truckmaker has been looking for a new partner since LDV, its British subsidiary, went bankrupt last June. GAZ had hoped to use LDV’s mini-bus technology to design a next-generation of its GAZelle cargo van. Daimler is interested in gaining access to GAZ’s dealership network in Russia.

Daimler, which already owns 10% of Russian truckmaker OAO Kamaz, is separately holding talks with Troika Dialog, which owns a 44.4% stake in Kamaz, about increasing its holding.

Former Renault President Louis Schweitzer has agreed to serve as chairman of Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo until the company’s next annual shareholders meeting on 14 April.

Renault owns 20% of the truckmaker. Schweitzer, a member of Volvo’s board since 2001, succeeds Finn Johnsson, who resigned suddenly last week after five years in the post. Johnsson said he was stepping down due to “increasingly comprehensive assignments.” But Reuters reports that Johnsson’s departure only three months before the company’s annual meeting may not have been voluntary.

Some investors have criticized Johnsson for Volvo’s poor performance during the recession. The company’s sales plunged 57% to 42,000 units through the first 11 months of 2009 as global demand for big commercial trucks evaporated. Rival truck makers such as Daimler AG have recovered more quickly from the global economic crisis.

BMW AG and Daimler AG deny a report in today’s Der Spiegel that says the two companies have broken off talks about sharing powertrains and purchasing activities. The companies tell Automotive News Europe that the talks continue.

Daimler has been considering partnerships for months. In December CEO Dieter Zetsche said the company would decide by the first half of this year whether to form a small-car alliance with another carmaker and, if it does, who its partner will be.

BMW confirms to ANE that negotiations over a purchasing partnership are still in progress. Daimler dismissed Der Spiegel’s report as “complete nonsense.” Daimler also is holding talks with Renault SA about a possible partnership to co-develop the next-generation Smart minicar scheduled to debut in 2013, plus engines for Daimler’s A- and B-Class small cars.

Suzuki Motor Corp. says it will begin to standardize and share parts with Volkswagen AG as early as the 2010 fiscal year that begins in April.

Last Friday Suzuki sold 19.9% of its shares to VW for €1.9 billion. Suzuki is expected to use some of that money to buy a 2.5% stake in VW. The deal will lead to a broad range of collaborations that include purchasing and the development of hybrid and electric cars.

Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki says the two companies also will pursue joint procurement in China, India, South America and other emerging markets. Suzuki also wants to make VW its sole supplier of diesel engines in most markets but continue buying diesels from Fiat in India. Currently, the Japanese automaker also purchases diesels from PSA and Renault.

VW hopes to use the alliance to exploit Suzuki’s dominance in the minicar market. The tie-up would help both companies expand in China and India.

Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. are discussing the end of their three-way carmaking venture in China with Chongqing Changan Automotive Co., according to media reports. Last month Ford told the Detroit Free Press that it was in talks to alter the structure of the partnership.

The current venture—Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co.—is 50% owned by Changan, 35% by Ford and 15% by Mazda. The partnership operates carmaking plants in Chongqing and Nanjing.

Media reports say Changan and Ford may form a 50:50 joint venture to run the Chongqing operations, while Mazda and Changan form a 50:50 venture to control the Nanjing facility. It is not clear how the companies plan to reassign control of an existing three-way engine-making venture in Nanjing or a new car plant expected to open in Chongqing in 2012 with capacity to produce 150,000 cars per year.

Ties between Mazda and Ford have waned over the past year after Ford reduced its stake in the Japanese carmaker to 13.8% from 33.4% in November 2008. Last month Ford said the two companies would stop collaborating on small-car development.

Changan Ford Mazda sold about 320,000 vehicles in China last year, up 50% from 2008. Ford brand vehicles account for about 70% of the total.