Loss-making carmaker is in talks with private investors, but analysts say it's not a good buy.

Ailing German carmaker Opel is up for grabs, but who would want to buy it? Adam Opel, the European division of General Motors, confirmed Tuesday it is in talks with a few investors about taking a stake in the company.

Four financial and two strategic investors are in talks with General Motors to buy a possible majority stake in Opel for a direct investment of at least 500 million euros, according to Reuters. None of Germany's automakers nor Fiat, which had been repeatedly named by the media as a potential partner for Opel, was involved in the sale process, a banker close to the negotiations said.

Meanwhile, a report in the Financial Times said that half a billion euros ($649.0 million), was the minimum cash injection expected.

But some analysts have questioned Opel’s viability as a business. "I have been surprised to even read that there is so much interest in Opel," an industry analyst based in Germany told Forbes. "I doubt there are those potential buyers with a serious interest in Opel." Even operating in partnership with GM, Opel has not been able to return to profit and industry experts have said it could be even harder to post profit on a stand-alone basis.

According to Thomson Reuters, Opel is seeking 3.3 billion-euro ($42.0 billion) from the German government to finance a liquidity gap through the end of 2011. But Angela Merkel’s government ruled out a bailout, saying it would only provide loan guarantees to third-party investors.

Automakers in both the U.S. and Europe are facing slower sales as faltering economies spell weaker consumer demand and a lack of confidence in the financial sector affects their own financing. Consumers are also struggling to get loans to buy their cars, which is hurting the industry enormously.