General Motors’ top managers are working on additional restructuring measures to deal with a declining US new vehicle market and an accelerated shift from trucks to more fuel efficient vehicles, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press (AP) last night (28 May).
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But the unnamed source would not give details of plans under discussion by chairman and chief executive officer Rick Wagoner and his top managers.
AP, citing the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), said the restructuring, which follows thousands of job cuts over the past three years mainly through buyout and early retirement offers, will be announced at the company’s annual meeting in Wilmington, Delaware, on 3 June.
GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson declined to comment to the news agency.
However, the Associated Press speculated the new steps would involve further cost cuts including reduced truck and sport utility vehicle production and faster launches of more car and crossover models, similar to what Ford announced last week.
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By GlobalDataGM this week said it would speed up the elimination of one shift each at its Flint and Pontiac pickup truck factories, the report noted.
Ford on Wednesday confirmed that it is looking at involuntary layoffs of salaried employees, perhaps costing as many as 2,000 workers their jobs, AP noted, adding that the WSJ had quoted GM director George Fisher as saying that the company must take further steps.
“Obviously these times dictate more actions, and Rick and the team are about doing that,” Fisher told the newspaper. “Rick and the team are looking at what things can be done and will be done.”
