Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp.'s Opel unit is asking German authorities for loan guarantees as its parent seeks a U.S. government bailout to stay in business.

``The goal of the current talks is to ready security for additional loans because the global financial situation of parent company General Motors has worsened,'' Klaus Franz, head of GM's works council, said today in a statement distributed by Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel's press department. Opel declined to comment on the amount sought.

The request is for loan guarantees if ``GM's financial situation were to intensify'' and affect Opel, the German unit said in the statement. Opel said it approached the federal government as well as state authorities in Hesse, North Rhine- Westphalia, Rhineland-Pfalz and Thuringia, where it has plants.

Opel, which targets mainly low-income buyers, has been among the automakers hardest hit by the credit crunch. The brand's European sales have dropped 12 percent this year, more than twice the industrywide decline, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

Germany's Economics Ministry said in a statement that it's in contact with the GM unit and that ``Opel must now put concrete, substantive numbers on the table so that we can analyze the situation.''

In the company statement, managing director Hans Demant said that ``we want to secure Opel's competitiveness in this difficult situation.'' The carmaker, which is known as Vauxhall in the U.K., said it would use funds from government aid to develop vehicles and for equipment for its German factories.

``Under no circumstances would the money be used outside Europe,'' Opel said in the statement.

Investment Plan

In April, Detroit-based GM vowed to invest 9 billion euros ($11.4 billion) in Opel through 2012 as part of an effort to introduce 20 models within four years.

In the U.S., GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC would receive $25 billion in loans out of a $700 billion financial bailout package approved earlier this year under legislation that Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan are writing. President George W. Bush's administration opposes using those funds for the auto companies.

GM rose 6 cents to $3.01 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 88 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Reiter in Berlin at creiter2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 14, 2008 16:07 EST