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Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28
CNN said that GM doesnt make the cars that Americans want.
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An MSNBC talking head just said the same thing about a half hour ago, and said it was "a fact".
Here's less of a GM PR article:
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AP
GM to cut salaried workers, production, dividend
Tuesday July 15, 9:11 am ET
By Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Auto Writers
DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off salaried workers, cut truck production, suspend its dividend and borrow $2 billion to $3 billion to weather a severe downturn in the U.S. market.
GM said the moves will raise $15 billion to help cover losses and turn around its North American operations.
"In short, our plan is not a plan to survive. It is a plan to win," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a broadcast to employees.
Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said GM wants to reduce its total salaried costs in the U.S. and Canada by 20 percent.
A large chunk of the reduction, he said, would come from cutting health care benefits for salaried retirees. Those people would get a pension increase from the company's overfunded pension fund to help compensate for Medicare and supplemental insurance, the company said.
Several thousand jobs will be cut through normal attrition and retirements, and through early retirement and buyout offers, Henderson said. The company could resort to involuntary layoffs but does not want to, he said.
GM has 40,000 salaried employees in the U.S. and Canada.
Henderson said the company intends to reduce its truck production capacity by 300,000 units, 150,000 more than it announced at its annual meeting in June.
The company will speed up closures of its truck and sport utility vehicle factories in Janesville, Wis.; Oshawa, Ontario; Silao, Mexico; and Moraine, Ohio, and it will make thousands of job cuts at other truck assembly and parts factories, Henderson said.
He would not say if further plants will be closed, and said the company still must negotiate further cuts with the United Auto Workers.
GM said it will suspend its $1 annual dividend immediately, which will improve liquidity by $800 million through 2009. It's the first time the company has suspended its dividend since 1922.
The company also plans to raise $2 billion to $4 billion through the sale of assets, including its Hummer brand. It also plans to borrow $2 billion to $3 billion by pledging assets including stock of foreign subsidiaries, brands, stake in its finance arm and real estate.
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/gm_re...ring.html?.v=5
I guess I was hoping for more of a "here's how we're going to reinvent GM" sort of radical plan. All things considered, this kind of ho-hum, cut-cut, borrow-borrow speech is not what I was expecting after the hype last night. I mean, I'm sure it's big to people working at GM, but for outsiders it seems like just another speech, another plan and perennial promises of a turnaround from Rick.
Stock isn't moving up or down (yet), so maybe I'm not the only one left scratching my head and walking away disappointed. (Though it's good to hear the Equinox will get a good 4-cyl. that it should've had from day 1.)