GM Exits Bankruptcy, CEO Vows Better Performance

"Talking Head"?

A leaner and meaner General Motors arose on Friday, making an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy.

Once the world's largest and most powerful automaker, the new GM is now cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans. The U.S. government owns a majority stake - although the Obama administration says it has no plans to run the automaker (I would give anything to see Obams's face coined on the hubcaps of the new models).

At a news conference, CEO Fritz Henderson said the new GM will be faster and more responsive to customers than the old one and it will make money and repay government loans faster than required.

Henderson said GM completed its 40-day stay under court supervision far faster than anyone thought it could. He said it would repay about $50 billion in government loans ahead of a 2015 deadline.

The new GM will also build more cars and trucks that consumers want and launch them faster than in the past, the CEO said. (I think the guy will probably say just about anything).

"We recognize that we've been given a rare second chance at GM, and we are very grateful for that. And we appreciate the fact that we now have the tools to get the job done," he said. Yada yada yada.

The new company arose from the ashes Friday as the bulk of General Motors Corp.'s assets were transferred to a company controlled by the U.S. government.

He said Bob Lutz, a legendary industry executive, was "unretiring" to become a vice chairman responsible for all creative elements of products, marketing and customer relationships. Lutz had previously planned to retire at the end of the year after more than four decades in the auto business. (oh God please help us).

The automaker is launching a "Tell Fritz" Web site to allow owners and the public to share their concerns with senior management and he planned to go out on the road every month, Henderson said. (The question is: will senior management actually hear the concerns? Yea right).



"Business as usual is over at General Motors."


"We need to listen to the questions, ideas and the concerns of the people who matter the most," Henderson said.

"We all want to win and we are going to win," Whitacre said.

The company's logo will emain blue with white underlined GM letters. Henderson said GM has no plans to change the background color to green. "It's not in my plans actually," he said. GM has considered the change to represent its new environmental focus.

* Even thinking of changing the GM logo color to green has to be the biggest suck-up to Pelosi so far from the GM execs. (I would probably throw-up something green).



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