General Motors stock fell sharply in Frankfurt yesterday on renewed bankruptcy fears, weighing on autos stocks across the region, as peer Chrysler pinned its hopes on a tie-up with Fiat.

Abu Dhabi's government-linked investment fund Aabar, a leading GM investor, on Friday ruled out buying more shares in Daimler or a stake in GM's Opel unit.

This was followed on Sunday by a report in the New York Times that the US Treasury Department was directing GM to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing should it fail to agree debt-for-equity deals with stakeholders by the deadline set by the Obama administration two weeks ago.