DW reports that German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is in the US talking about how best to disentangle/jettison the Opel brand from its “struggling parent company.”

One of the main issues Guttenberg will address is the ownership of patents and other intellectual property Opel requires to continue producing cars. He will also explore GM and the US government’s willingness to let go of Opel.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that Guttenberg needed to “clarify how General Motors would be able to back away in order to give Opel more room to move.”

Of course, zu Guttenberg is smart enough to know that GM CEO Rick Wagoner is incapable of what’s commonly called decision making (“Guttenberg is not expected to bring back a final answer on the Opel issue”), in the same sense that his own government is busy horse trading on the future of the soon-to-be-zombified Opel brand. Although a government-sponsored buyout seems the most popular program at the moment. Anyway, sensibly enough, zu Guttenberg will meet try to thrash out a solution to Opel’s severance from the GM mothership with leaders outside of RenCen.

Guttenberg’s schedule calls for additional talks with US President Barack Obama’s economic advisor Larry Summers; US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; the heads the IMF and World Bank; as well as several US banks on Tuesday.