Auto Industry Bailout, Big Three | featured news

General Motors Corp. said it will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year, phase out its storied Pontiac brand and ask the government to take more than half its stock in exchange for half of GM's government debt as part of a major restructuring that would leave current shareholders holding just 1 percent of the company.

General Motors (GM) has received another $2bn (£1.4bn) in loans from the US Treasury, it has been announced.

The Obama administration remains focused on bringing Chrysler and Fiat into a working partnership, a U.S. official said on Thursday, dismissing a news report that the U.S. car-maker faced imminent bankruptcy.

General Motors Corp. will not make a $1 billion debt payment due June 1, its CFO, Ray Young, told reporters on Wednesday. Instead, it is hoping to complete a debt-for-equity exchange or be forced to resort to bankruptcy.

GM's stock plummeted on the news.

General Motors Corp. could get as much as $5 billion more in federal loans, while Chrysler LLC could get $500 million as they race against government-imposed deadlines to restructure, according to a government report filed Tuesday.

Facing Obama administration demands that it move quickly to restructure, General Motors is apparently speeding plans to drastically trim its dealership network. Reuters reports, "General Motors Corp has told U.S. dealers it is accelerating its timetable for closing about 1,700 dealerships as it rushes to meet a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, people with knowledge of the discussions said." General Motors currently supports more than 6,200 ...

Executives at General Motors and Chrysler are speeding to put in place workable plans to restore their dwindling operations. It’s a race they might not win.

The moves come less than an hour after Obama tells the two carmakers to take another stab at redesigning their companies, a requisite for receiving more federal funds.

Less than an hour after President Obama said a major overhaul was needed to save the auto industry, Chrysler announced that it had formed the framework of an alliance with Fiat, while at General Motors Corp., new leaders took charge after the chairman was forced to step down

President Obama is making a formal announcement this hour about his plans for troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler, which have already been given $17.4 billion to keep them running.

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.