May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said the Italian carmaker held “constructive” talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and it’s now up to Germany to decide on a preferred buyer for General Motors Corp.’s Opel unit.

“We presented our case,” Marchionne said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Berlin today after meeting with Merkel. “We were very constructive. The government is seriously engaged in this process.”

German federal and state governments, who will provide backing for Opel’s sale, are aiming to pick the preferred suitor by tomorrow. Fiat’s revised bid won’t be enough to win German backing, Hendrik Hering, Rhineland-Palatinate’s economy minister, said in an interview today, calling a bid from Canadian car-parts manufacturer Magna International Inc. “more profound.” Germany has also received a bid from RHJ International SA, a fund that has automotive assets.

“It’s a lottery right now,” Marchionne said, when asked whether he’s confident that Turin, Italy-based Fiat would win the bid. “I will not say anything. I’m here seriously to try and get the deal done. If it gets done, it gets done. If not, I’m on a plane back to Detroit overnight,” he said.

GM is selling a majority stake in Opel, including the U.K. Vauxhall brand, to secure the unit’s survival as it faces a U.S.-imposed deadline to reorganize or face bankruptcy by June 1. Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, speaking on a television show on state-owned broadcaster RAI SpA, said today that Opel’s sale is a “very complicated game.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Chilcote in London at rchilcote@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 26, 2009 09:10 EDT