General Motors Corp aims to takeover Malaysia's Hicomobil Sdn Bhd., the local distributor of Chevrolet cars, and has hired an accounting firm to go through the books, a report said today.

The Business Times newspaper said GM had engaged Ernst and Young to carry out the due diligence of Hicomobil, a subsidiary of car and banking group DRB-HICOM Bhd.

GM wants to take control of the firm that sells cars under its brands by October, the newspaper said.

Hicomobil acting chief executive officer Nik Hamdan Nik Hassan, who is also DRB-HICOMs head of automotive distribution, had briefed company staff on a potential share sale, the report said.

Industry sources said DRB-HICOM would agree to the takeover deal if GM assembled cars in Malaysia using DRB-HICOM's plant in Pekan, Pahang.

Hicomobil distributes the Spark, the Aveo hatchback, the Optra sedan and Optra5 hatchback, the Nabira multipurpose vehicle - known as the Zafira in other markets - and the Lumina sedan.