German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said after meeting General Motors executives on Wednesday that the U.S. carmaker needed 3.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion) for its plans to restructure its Opel unit.

I expressed my expectation that General Motors should basically carry out the financing itself, Bruederle said after meeting with Nick Reilly, interim head of GM's European business, and John Smith, another GM executive.

Bruederle said that the GM executives apologised over communication failures related to their decision not to go ahead with a planned sale of Opel to Canadian group Magna.

GM executives said they would present their restructuring plan for Opel soon, he added.

(Reporting by Paul Carrel, Andreas Moeser, writing by Brian Rohan)

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