GM prevents Magna from selling Opels in the U.S.

Opels have been sold in the North America for a very long time. As Saturns.

Opel Astra = Saturn Astra
Opel Vectra = Saturn Aura
Opel Antara = Saturn Vue
Opel Speedster = Saturn Sky

Apparently this didn't help GM much. One of the culprits was the previous Saturn line of cars which were horrid. But implicitly suggesting that bringing Opels to the North America will be a ground breaker is nonsense. At least people know that Saturn exists while virtually no one recognizes the brand "Opel".

By the way, Opels/Vauxhalls are considerd poor cars in Europe. Volkswagens and Ford always kick their butts in most comparisons. Maybe the new Opel Insignia will change this negative perception.

My initial reaction: DUH!!!

After some thought:
Of course. It really wouldn't make sense to basically sell off a brand/division just to have the new owner do a bit of tweaking & then enter your home market with products that will competently compete with your (struggling) remaining products. The Opel rebadges really made GM look like they were actually doing some vehicle engineering.

But, are rebadged Opels banned too? Would it be possible for Opel to ink a deal with some other automaker to provide Opels badged (w/adjustments to front & back) as someother brand to sell in the US?

Another reason why GM failed. Had the opportunity to bring a new brand in but failed.