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General Motors CEO: Bankruptcy still an option

Business Materials 31 March 2009 20:50 (UTC +04:00)

General Motors Corp is keeping open the option of bankruptcy in order to restructure the flagging US carmaker, GM's new chief executive Fritz Henderson said Tuesday.

Henderson, who took over the top job from Rick Wagoner Monday as part of a White House-forced shake-up, said he was confident the company could make the necessary changes to survive either way, reported dpa.

"If we're not successful doing it out of court, we will do it in court," Henderson told reporters in his first press conference from Detroit.

President Barack Obama on Monday said GM had not yet done enough to gain the government's long-term support and gave the carmaker 60 days to reach far-reaching deals with labour unions, creditors and others to cut costs.

Henderson said the government's requirements on reducing debt "might very well drive us into" bankruptcy in order to make the drastic cuts needed. The bankruptcy process would be backed by government guarantees on warrantees and other aid.

GM has already received 13.5 billion dollars in emergency loans from the US government and in February said it could need about 21 billion dollars more in the coming years.

Henderson said the White House had made clear that GM had to go "faster and deeper" in its restructuring efforts if it hoped to keep the government's loans and get more in the future.

GM has lost some 80 billion dollars over the last four years. But the company has been brought to the brink only in the last few months as the US recession has driven US car sales to 25-year lows.

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