GM To Give Update on Plans Monday Morning
By Michelle Krebs April 26, 2009DETROIT -- General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson will host a media briefing at 9 a.m. Monday
to provide an update on the automaker's revised viability plan, the company said Sunday night.
Though GM is not providing detail about what he will say, Henderson is expected to announce more cuts, including the elimination of the Pontiac brand. Other moves could include permanent plant closings and job cuts. Initiatives to reduce the number of dealers and obtain a debt-for-equity swap from bondholders likely will be addressed. And the shakiness of parts supplier Delphi Corp. may be on the agenda as well.
Henderson, since taking over from Rick Wagoner a month ago, has said GM's revised viability plan, required by the U.S. Treasury Department in order to obtain more loans, must go faster and deeper than the original plan submitted Feb. 17 and given a failing grade by the government.
Word is that GM is trying to trim its costs to the point that it can be profitable when U.S. auto sales slump to a low of 10 million a year.
CFO Ray Young, President of North America Troy Clarke and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mark LaNeve will join Henderson at the press conference.
Last Thursday, GM announced it would idle more than a dozen assembly plants in North America for an extra week to nine weeks to slash inventories of unsold vehicles.
On Friday, the U.S. Treasury provided GM with an additional $2 billion to keep it operating, part of $5 billion in extra funds GM had requested.
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