General Motors Exits Bankruptcy

General Motors made it out of bankruptcy protection today. U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Robert Gerber hustled the automaker through the process in a scant 40 days, dismissing all challenges to the process. The company that has emerged will have just four brands—Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC—with Chevrolet poised to account for as much as 70 percent of the new GM’s total sales volume. The Chapter 11 filing slashed more than just brands: GM lost around 22,500 employees, $128 billion in debt (it’s now down to a still-staggering $48 billion), and 2300 dealers (although numerous congressmen are fighting for these dealers as we write). GM gets to keep our favorite car executive, though: Maximum Bob Lutz will remain in the saddle, albeit in an advisory, rather than operational, capacity. Lutz was scheduled to retire at the end of the year. In our estimation, all this bodes

well for the new GM. Though it will be radically smaller, it will also be a company more focused on its core products. We have been complaining for nearly two decades that General Motors’ tail was wagging the entire dog. Dealers had too much power over product planning, and GM’s need to service eight brands forced it into decisions that adversely affected brand integrity (the Saab 9-7x is perhaps the most egregious recent example of this). The new General Motors will be led by chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr., a former AT&T executive. The Wall Street Journal quotes famed SOB Karl Rove as saying that Whitacre’s “very tough.” That’s just what GM needs right now. Read more about GM’s restructuring: What You Need to Know About the GM Bankruptcy – Car News No related posts.

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General Motors Exits Bankruptcy