FRANKFURT - General Motors' German unit Opel appointed a new management team on Friday led by Nick Reilly as chief executive and a close ally, Mark James, as finance chief.

James currently serves as CFO at GM Daewoo, the group's South Korean unit where Reilly was chairman until the Welshman took over as head of Opel -- initially on an interim basis -- in November following the resignation of Carl-Peter Forster.

Reilly will leave the Opel supervisory board and will be replaced by Stephen Girsky, a senior advisor to GM Chairman & interim CEO Ed Whitacre.

Other key appointments included Reinald Hoben as head of production and Alain Visser as sales and marketing chief.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner)

General motors