General Motors is seeking an investor to buy a stake in UK-based Vauxhall.

The US car group – which told the US government on Tuesday that it needed $16.6bn (£11.7bn) of financial support – would also consider an alliance or partnership, reported Daily Telegraph.

The move comes as a GM spokesman conceded that job cuts among GM’s 5,000 UK workforce were likely among staff working at plants in Ellesmere Port, Luton and Millbrook.

In an attempt to make the business profitable again by 2011, GM plans to cut costs in Europe by $1.2bn.