Struggling German carmaker Opel, a unit of General Motors , has set itself the ambitious target of hitting the 1 billion euro ($1.33 billion) profit mark from 2016, Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke said in an employee newsletter.

My vision is as follows - Opel/Vauxhall will make a profit of 1 billion euros from 2016, a return on sales of 5 percent and have a market share of 8.5 percent in Europe, OpelPost reported Stracke as saying at a management meeting in Munich.

Vauxhall is Opel's British sister brand.

GM has admitted attempts to restructure Opel, which lost $1.6 billion last year, have not worked so far and is looking at more measures to boost sales and cut costs, steps that may include job cuts and plant closures.

Stracke said Opel wanted to gain market share in 2012 and would bring 30 new vehicles to market by 2014 to rejuvenate its offering.

($1 = 0.7512 euros)

(Reporting by Hendrik Sackmann; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

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