The chief executive of General Motors Co. met with leaders of its Opel unit on Monday to discuss the European subsidiary's automaker's future, a week after GM abruptly decided to keep it instead of selling a majority stake.

Fritz Henderson wanted to get a firsthand look at the situation at Adam Opel GmbH's headquarters in Ruesselsheim, just west of Frankfurt, said Opel spokesman Ulrich Weber.

Monday's talks ended without the emergence of any clear plans for the future of Opel's five plants in Germany, or those elsewhere. Henderson will hold more talks Tuesday, including with the head of the company's employee council leader.

Also Monday, the head of GM's engineering operations in Detroit said it would have been difficult to separate Opel from the rest of GM had the sale gone through. Mark Reuss, GM vice president of global vehicle engineering, also feared the loss of technology to other companies despite safeguards that were written into the agreement.

"It would have made everything harder" if the sale proceeded, Reuss said in an interview. "The capability that we have there is one of the deepest that we have in the company."

GM's next-generation of global midsize cars is based on an Opel design, as is its new compact, the Chevrolet Cruze.

Opel also contributes a lot of safety research as well as fuel cell and battery technology, Reuss said.

"I'm not saying we would have lost all of that. I don't know," Reuss said. "I'm really happy that we're keeping it."

GM's board decided last week to keep Opel and its U.K. based sister brand Vauxhall, instead of selling a majority stake to a Canadian car parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank. That deal was backed by the German government and Opel workers.

The announcement not to sell was followed by GM saying Friday that its European boss, Carl-Peter Forster, would leave the company. Continued...