MAGNA’S grasp on General Motors Europe, the owner of Vauxhall and Opel, appeared to be slipping this weekend as it emerged that all three bidders for the group will be asked to present their plans to Barack Obama’s automotive task force at the end of the month.

Magna, an Austro-Canadian maker of car components, had been regarded as firm favourite to take control of GM Europe, which was put up for sale following the collapse into Chapter 11 bankruptcy of its American parent company.

GM and the German government, which will bankroll the new owner of GM Europe with up to ¤3 billion (£2.6 billion) in state aid, signed a memorandum of understanding with Magna at the end of May.

Magna has said that the deal was exclusive, but two other bidders have since emerged: Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company (BAIC) and RJH, a quoted Belgian industrial conglomerate with ties to the American private-equity group Ripplewood.

It is understood that the talks with Magna have become bogged down in disagreements over intellectual property. GM, which will remain a large minority shareholder in GM Europe, does not want Magna to have the rights to use GM technology outside Opel and Vauxhall.

Magna’s main partners in its bid are the Russian bank Sberbank, and the Russian automotive group Gaz.

GM insiders say they are fearful their company’s technology could be used to build cars in Russia that would compete with their own products.

There is a separate disagreement over whether Magna and its partners should get control of the Chevrolet dealership chain in Russia.

In the meantime, BAIC and RJH have submitted improved bids in the past week. RJH is understood to have proposed a scheme that will allow GM, which emerged from Chapter 11 in America at the end of last week, to buy back Opel and Vauxhall after three years.

GM is expected to confirm this week that all three bidders will now present their plans to President Obama’s automotive task force, which has led the restructuring of Detroit’s big players.

The American government is now the largest shareholder in GM. With the German government, the task force plans to pick a preferred bidder from the trio by the end of August.

Senior industry sources said that Magna could still win out. “Their plan was the most acceptable to the Germans because of undertakings given about the future of German plants,” one source commented. “But at the moment it is quite an open race.”

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, has said he is prepared to commit government money to GM’s new owner in order to preserve jobs at Vauxhall’s two UK factories, at Ellesmere Port on Merseyside and at Luton. The two sites together employ around 5,000 workers.

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