Canadian Opels Built In Russia to Challenge Chevrolet?

The Truth About Cars reports that GM is finally ready to sell its German Opel subsidiary to the Canada-Russia consortium of Magna-Sperbank. GM fought hard to avoid the sale:

but with the major obstacles to the deal overcome there’s little left to do but grin and sign the papers. And then sit back and watch as Opel’s technology is leveraged to create a modern (and heavily subsidized) Russian auto industry which will challenge Chevy’s position in the Eastern European markets.