DETROIT --- General Motors completed an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy protection Friday with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy.
Once the world's largest and most powerful automaker, the new GM is leaner, cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans.
But GM, whose 40 days under court supervision was far shorter than anyone predicted, faces the worst auto sales slump in a quarter-century.
At a news conference, CEO Fritz Henderson said the revamped automaker will be faster and more responsive to customers. It will generate cash and repay billions in government loans before a 2015 deadline.
The company will build more cars and trucks that consumers want and launch them faster, he said. GM also announced plans to experiment with auctioning new cars on eBay, expanding on an existing partnership covering used vehicles.
"We recognize that we've been given a rare second chance at GM, and we are very grateful for that. And we appreciate the fact that we now have the tools to get the job done," Mr. Henderson said. Known for its sluggish decision-making process and bloated management ranks, GM will create an eight-member executive committee to speed up day-to-day decision-making, replacing two senior leadership forums.
Mr. Henderson said GM will streamline its bureaucratic management structure, cutting U.S. salaried employment by 20 percent, or 6,150 positions, by the end of 2009. The cuts include 450 executive jobs.
"If we don't get this right, nothing else is going to work," he said at GM's Detroit headquarters. "Business as usual is over at General Motors."
The automaker is launching a "Tell Fritz" Web site to allow owners and the public to share concerns with senior management, and Mr. Henderson plans to go out on the road every month.
GM, in a viability plan presented to the government, said it would break even before interest and taxes next year, and be slightly above break-even for 2011 on a pretax basis. "Sitting here today, I don't have any reason to disbelieve those numbers," Mr. Henderson said, giving no details of when the company would make a net profit.
WARRANTY PROGRAM ENDS
WASHINGTON --- General Motors and Chrysler said Friday that an Obama administration program to backstop warranties, which ended with GM's emergence from bankruptcy, helped the companies stabilize sales.
President Obama made the program part of the government's multibillion-dollar effort to steer the companies through bankruptcy proceedings and bolster confidence in their vehicles. GM and Chrysler continued warranty coverage during their bankruptcies, so the program was never used. The $650 million in taxpayer funds for the program will be returned to the Treasury, a department official said on condition of anonymity.
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Get rhid of the United Autoworkers UNION and the blood sucking lawyers and GM could easily get back on their feet. Damn a Union and Lawyer.....