Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe, believes European operations will fully recover by 2011.

Forster said: "We have a lot of great new product that’s coming like the new Astra, Meriva and Zafira.

“Once this crisis is over - and sooner or later it will be over - I think we have a great future. We have made money with Opel in Europe in 2006, 2007 and the first half of 2008 and we believe that in about two year’s time we will be able to make money again in Europe.”

Forster said GM Europe had been tied down by social benefit systems in the US which had eaten away at its cash reserves and weakened the company’s balance sheet.

He said: “It puts us in a weak position in the face of the current crisis. This is why we are asking governments for support which we believe will help us work our way through the economic crisis and come out of it stronger than ever.”

In the video below, Forster outlines Opel’s product premieres at the Geneva Show and talks about what the future holds for the brand.