WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Wednesday said it had nothing to do with General Motors' decision to scrap plans to sell its unit Opel to a Canadian-Russian consortium.

"Business decisions by GM are made by the corporate leadership at GM and not by anybody at the White House," spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

GM, which was struggling with a bankruptcy reorganization backed by the US and Canadian governments, had initially agreed to sell a 55 percent stake in Opel/Vauxhall to a consortium headed by Canada-based auto parts maker Magna and its Russian banking partner Sberbank.

But on Tuesday, the GM board said it "has decided to retain Opel and will initiate a restructuring of its European operations in earnest," a statement said.

GM explained the abrupt U-turn by underscoring "an improving business environment for GM over the past few months, and the importance of Opel/Vauxhall to GM's global strategy."