General Motors CEO Frederick “Fritz” Henderson plans to introduce a greener, more customer-focused company with a leaner management team, reports The Wall Street Journal.
After being bailed out by the American taxpayer, the company plans to unveil a fleet of new products aimed at changing the company’s previous image as a dominant figure of the truck market and unfriendly to emissions legislation. Compact Chevrolets, small Buicks, and battery-powered Chevrolet Volt are among some of the new products the carmaker plans to offer.
Approximately 4,000 white-collar workers are expected to be laid off by October, and not offer jobs to about a third of the management team. These steps are only the beginning for the struggling company, soon to be 60 percent owned by the U.S. government.
By the end of 2009, the U.S. government will have put up more than 450 billion into GM and more than $12 billion to Chrysler, along with tens of billions more to suppliers, lenders, and GM’s former credit company, GMAC.
The Obama administration is relying heavily on the appointment of Edward Whitacre, former CEO of AT&T, as GM’s first independent, nonexecutive chairman since the mid-1990s. He was the government’s choice primarily because it didn’t believe GM’s current management team could properly oversee operations or deliver quick results.