Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. is considering shutting or selling as many as four European plants as it tries to meet the terms of a U.S. government bailout, a person familiar with the plans said.

Factories run by GM’s Opel division in Antwerp, Belgium, and Bochum, Germany, could be closed and an Eisenach, Germany, factory may be sold, as GM seeks about $1.5 billion of savings, said the person, who requested anonymity because the plans aren’t public. The sale or closure of GM’s Trollhaettan, Sweden-based Saab division would also eliminate a plant, the person added.

GM must submit a report to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner by today on its progress in cutting labor and debt costs worldwide to keep $13.4 billion in U.S. government aid. The Detroit-based carmaker is also seeking 3 billion euros ($3.77 billion) in loan guarantees from European governments, according to GM labor representatives in the region, who say the funds should be used to revive or accelerate new-model plans.

Opel, Saab and Luton, England-based Vauxhall assemble cars at 10 plants in the European Union and Russia. Closures would be aimed at cutting capacity by 1 million vehicles, the person said.

Saab has been on “life support” for most of the two decades since the U.S. company first bought a stake, GM Vice President Bob Lutz said last month. GM is in talks with Sweden’s government on state loan guarantees for the unit.

General Motors fell as much as 44 cents, or 18 percent, to $2.06 and was down 8.3 percent as of 11:29 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Unions Recommend Disposals

GM’s European Employee Forum, which links the company’s labor unions across the region, said yesterday that the carmaker should sell Opel and Vauxhall because plans to keep or reorganize the European units put them at risk of closure.

The disposal of Vauxhall and Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel, as well as the sale of Saab, would be “the only reasonable and feasible option” for preserving the brands’ production and jobs, the group said in a statement on a union Web site.

“The current restructuring plan for General Motors Europe and its brands and companies is not viable,” as it would “finish off” the businesses and “implies several risks of litigation,” forum Chairman Klaus Franz and Vice Chairman Rudi Kennes said in the statement. “The spinoffs would exclude any further risk for General Motors.”

‘Destroying the Basis’

GM is “trying systematically to spread rumors about plant closures” as part of “a policy of destroying the basis for constructive future plans for Opel/Vauxhall,” including options with banks and governments, labor representatives said today in an unsigned statement on the union Web site.

The carmaker has yet to present a plan that Swedish authorities will accept, Lisa Waern, a government spokeswoman in Stockholm, said yesterday. GM hasn’t sought loans from the European Investment Bank, which is a requirement for guarantees from Sweden, Waern said.

Germany’s federal government and four states with Opel plants are considering investing as much as 2 billion euros to buy stakes in the division in a rescue effort, said Christian Weisbrich, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Union party in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament.

A purchase would depend on GM agreeing to sell GM Europe as a viable business with new car models, so that the states could dispose of their holding after 2011, as an alternative to shutting the Bochum site and selling the Eisenach plant, Weisbrich said in an interview from his office in Viersen, outside the state capital of Dusseldorf.

‘Whatever’s Necessary’

“We’re looking at 20,000 jobs or more that are dependent on Bochum,” said Weisbrich, whose party leads the North Rhine- Westphalia government in coalition with the Free Democratic party. “We’ll do whatever’s necessary to preserve them.”

GM’s European division said it will probably have to increase reorganization measures because of the “severe downturn” in the economy, while trying to save “as many jobs as possible.” Industry sales in Europe fell 27 percent last month to 958,517 cars, the lowest figure in at least two decades.

“GM will not comment on speculation about possible plant closures,” the carmaker said in a statement yesterday. During talks with unions on Feb. 12, management “stressed that the response can include unconventional and aggressive steps to reduce the structural costs in Europe.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Lavell in Frankfurt at tlavell@bloomberg.net; Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan, at jgreen16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 17, 2009 11:33 EST