Delphi’s CEO Steve Miller said in Frankfurt at the IAA that it needed to negotiate a rescue deal with unions and General Motors in the next month or else file for bankruptcy.
Delphi Chief Executive Steve Miller said the firm must find a clear solution with GM and unions to stem high wage and benefit costs ahead of a change in US bankruptcy laws on October 17, Reuters reported.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“If we are not going to file for Chapter 11 by that time we would have to have a pretty firm understanding of what the transaction will look like,” Miller told reporters at the Frankfurt auto show.
“I still am hopeful, even though time is short, we will get to an agreement which permits us to avoid Chapter 11.”
Delphi, spun off by GM in 1999, is in talks with GM and the United Auto Workers union about cutting costs and restructuring its North American operations. Without a deal, those operations face a bankruptcy filing, it says.
Delphi’s other global operations, including Europe and Asia, would not be affected, Miller stressed as he meets key European customers in Frankfurt to talk up the company’s future outside the United States.
Delphi wants the right to close underperforming plants and cut about 4,000 inactive union members from its payroll, Reuters said.
Miller said October 17 was not an “absolute deadline” but Delphi needed a clear framework by that date because new U.S. bankruptcy laws would reduce the flexibility corporations have if they file for protection after that time.
