To the very last – if the question really is finally settled – a heavy whiff of politics hung over the negotiations on the future of General Motors' Opel/Vauxhall arm. The victors in this intricate game are Magna International, its Russian backers, and the German government. Berlin has the investor it favoured from the start, believing this option would best safeguard German factories and jobs. Magna also gets what it craved – a brand, technology and distribution network that enables it to expand beyond being just a parts maker and contract manufacturer into an auto company in its own right.

General Motors, and its majority owner the US Treasury, are largely losers. True, GM wrung concessions from Magna to address concerns over leakage of its intellectual property to Russia via Magna's partnership with Sberbank, the Russian state-controlled bank. But GM had recently favoured a private equity bidder – which might have made it possible for GM to buy back control later. It then even veered towards keeping hold of Opel/Vauxhall; GM's post-Chapter 11 board perhaps realised, too late, that losing control of its European operations risked reducing GM to a regional player. After all, Opel models and know-how have helped the group's push into Latin America and China.

Europe's broader auto industry may be a loser, too. In the deepest downturn for decades, not a single plant has closed – thanks to government hand-outs. Now Magna will be heavily beholden to Germany and other European governments that will provide billions in loan guarantees. Ironically GM, which had identified the need to close three European plants, might have been better able to push through rationalisation on its own. Europe's industry will emerge with continuing structural overcapacity. That increases the risk that some manufacturers will one day face the same inglorious fate some US counterparts did in this downturn.