In this Dec. 12, 2008 file photo, the General Motors logo is seen outside the GM headquarters in downtown Detroit. General Motors Corp. on Thursday, March 12 said its restructuring plan is starting to take hold, improving the automaker's fortunes at least to the point that it won't need a $2 billion government loan installment that it had requested for March. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
...Industry analysts weren't celebrating, but they did credit century-old GM for its restructuring efforts, which include closing 11 factories, cutting 50,000 jobs and slashing structural costs by roughly $12 billion from 2005 to 2008.
Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham, Mich., said GM has used its crisis to figure out how to manage costs better than at any time in its history....
updated 10:12 p.m. ET, Wed., March. 11, 2009
..."The Government of Canada acknowledges the CAW's agreement with GM Canada as a further step in the restructuring of the automotive industry. This is a time for all stakeholders to work together and, frankly, to give a little in the interest of keeping a sustainable industry in Canada....
GM UAW Savings Said to Be Double Ford’s $500 Million (Update2) (click here)
...GM needs labor and debt holder concessions of more than $28.5 billion as part of an agreement with the U.S. Treasury to keep $13.4 billion in loans. GM is also trying to convince President Barack Obama’s auto task force to free up as much as $16.6 billion more to keep the largest U.S. automaker out of bankruptcy.
The company’s proposal to Canadian workers was accepted today, with 87 percent voting to ratify the contract, the Canadian union said in a PRNewswire statement.
Ford manufacturing chief Joe Hinrichs said he didn’t see how GM could realize twice the savings of Ford from its agreement with the UAW.
“You’d think it would be proportional to us,” Hinrichs said in an interview.
Similar Agreements
Ford, which is not seeking U.S. aid, said today that a new labor agreement and modifications to a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association union retiree health-care fund will save $500 million annualized, with about 75 percent of that realized this year. The estimate of GM savings includes only the contract concessions and not any changes to the VEBA, the people said....
GM's Saab says eyed by group of Swedish investors (click here)
Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:40pm EDT
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - General Motors' (GM.N) Swedish unit Saab Automobile said on Thursday a group of Sweden-based investors had shown interest in the company.
"I cannot disclose who they are. But I can confirm that there is a group of investors in Sweden which has shown interest," Saab spokesman Eric Geers told Reuters.
Geers said the loss-making carmaker, whose U.S. parent has said it will sever ties to the brand, was being courted by six to eight "very large" companies in total.
Earlier on Thursday Saab said it had given 750 employees at its Trollhattan plant notice of redundancy.
