New GM emerges from bankruptcy protection
Updated on 10 July 2009
A new General Motors has emerged from bankruptcy protection just 40 days after saying it was at risk of liquidation.
The turnaround - far quicker than most industry watchers had expected - sees a leaner car manufacturer hoping to win back US consumers and pay back taxpayers.
The whirlwind bankruptcy has concluded with the closing of a deal that sold key operations and core brands, including Chevrolet and Cadillac, to a new company that will be majority-owned by the US Treasury.
Mired in bankruptcy and having burned through $40 billion (£25bn) over the past four years while posting losses of more than $80 billion (£50bn), the 100-year-old car giant's US sales plummeted 36 per cent in June.
But sales chief Mark LaNeve said: "I'm very much looking forward to the point where we're operating in the clean air and the name of the company not being associated with bankruptcy."
The firm is cutting its white-collar workforce by more than 20 per cent - with 6,000 jobs axed by October - and a 35 per cent cull of executive positions.
The White House has handed out almost $80 billion (£50bn) to shore up the US's beleaguered car industry, with $50 billion (£30bn) earmarked for GM. The emergency funding will give Washington a stake of more than 60 per cent stake in the new GM.
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