The company’s 18-month plan assumes U.S. light vehicle sales of 14 million units in 2008 and 2009.
GM aim to save $10 billion by:
• Deferring until 2010 $1.7 billion of payments to set up a union-run healthcare trust for U.S. hourly workers.
• Reducing North American salaried costs by more than 20% in 2009. That includes cutting an unspecified number of jobs, eliminating white-collar raises and executive cash bonuses.
• Cutting 300,000 units from truck capacity by the end of next year
• Trimming sales and marketing budgets, freezing engineering spending at 2006-2007 levels and slicing capital spending by $1.5 billion next year.
• Eliminating the usual 25-cent quarterly dividend.
• Improving working capital in North America and Europe, mainly by reducing inventory levels.
In addition, GM say they will raise cash by:
• Selling or monetizing global assets, including the potential sale of the Hummer brand.
• Tapping the global capital markets for at least $2 billion-$3 billion of loans backed by assets such as GM’s brands, real estate, stock in foreign subsidiaries.