Although Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC) was excluded from bidding for General Motor's Opel unit in Europe yesterday, the setback was along expected lines, industry analysts told China Daily.

"BAIC being out of the Opel race is as expected. From the start, I had said that there was only a very slim chance of BAIC bagging the Opel bid, especially since there was strong competition from Magna (the Canadian car parts maker and one of the key bidders)," said Jia Xinguang, chief analyst with the Chinese National Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corp.

"If GM sells Opel to BAIC and agrees to its local production as it had proposed, the US car maker would have faced direct competition from the Beijing-based automaker in the Chinese market, where GM is focusing its investments to ease pressure (from falling sales) in western markets," said Jia. "Nobody will look to invite trouble for themselves."