General Motors features in the first of WikiLeaks diplomatic documents involving the global automotive industry. More leaks centering on the motor industry can be expected in 2011 – even as the site’s front man, Julian Assange, faces an uncertain future.

A leaked November 2009 US State Department memo reveals that German chancellor Angela Merkel was furious when GM last year decided to keep Opel after reneging on a sell-out deal with Canadian supplier Magna International. The memo was among more than 250,000 secret US diplomatic documents posted last month by WikiLeaks.

In a cable sent from the US embassy in Berlin entitled "GM Decision not to sell Opel greeted by shock and anger in Germany" it was noted:

“A high-level source indicated that Chancellor Merkel is furious over the GM move and refuses to talk to GM's leadership. It is likely only a matter of time before critics will call Merkel herself into account for her strong support of the now-collapsed Magna deal."

“The decision, which followed repeated assurances from GM that it was a done deal, came as a complete shock in Germany and dominated media coverage throughout the day. Merkel herself was reportedly highly upset over GM's flip flop.“

Collapse of the deal with Magna proved a political setback for chancellor Merkel who had been pushing it for months to protect German jobs.

A German official reportedly blamed the US government for the bad management of the situation, saying “if the US government had GM under better control, this would not have happened."

Other leaked confidential documents portray chancellor Merkel as the only European leader equipped to lead Europe. Discussing the leadership claim, the London Telegraph says: “Detailed American assessments of the German Chancellor and her coalition governments, first with the Social Democrats and then after Sep 2009 the liberal FDP, portray a leader who only stands out because of the low quality of other European heads of government.

‘Angela Merkel's role as Germany's and Europe's leader is undisputed. No other leader of a large member state is politically fit enough to offer himself up as a leader’, noted a confidential cable in April 2007. ‘However, she is conscious that her strength derives largely from the weakness of her counterparts and other factors beyond her control’.

“The Wikileaks diplomatic documents spell out how Chancellor Merkel used negotiations over the Lisbon Treaty to assert ‘German and her personal leadership’ over the EU during a period when Tony Blair was handing over power to Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy was not yet French President.

“By 2009, while ‘Teflon Merkel’ is still seen by the US as the EU's most important leader, American diplomats note that her star has slipped as she was battered by the economic crisis and political pressures that made her more ‘circumspect’ as an ally of the US”.