General Motors Co. said Thursday that its talks over Opel's rescue will focus on a consortium of Canadian, Russian and Belgium entities.

In a statement released by GM Europe, the automaker's chief negotiator John Smith said that the company has "agreed to continue detailed talks with Magna and RHJI to secure Opel's future."

The statement implied that the third bidder, China's Beijing Automotive Industry Corp., failed to make headway in the talks.

A BAIC spokesman, who gave only his surname of Chen, told The Associated Press that "We have not received notification from GM" when asked whether BAIC was out of the running.

Chen declined to provide additional details and GM Europe did not immediately say whether the company was now out of the picture.

GM now will focus talks with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc., Russian lender Sberbank and on RHJ International SA, a Belgium-based investor.

Smith's remarks echoed similar views by the German government, which met with Smith on Wednesday concerning the future of Adam Opel GmbH.

German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told a news conference Wednesday that Canada's Magna was still Germany's preferred bidder for Opel.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2009)