General Motors announced this afternoon that it plans to curtail its North American marketing budget by about $800 million this year – a figure that includes vehicle incentive spending. The budget cut comes on the heels of the automaker’ high losses for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year announced earlier today.
GM says that the cuts are in response to lower sales volumes, but they raise concerns in the industry that GM could wind up in a bankruptcy court or be subject to a government reorganization.
Earlier today, GM reported a net loss of $30.9 billion for 2009, $9.6 billion of which occurred in the fourth quarter of the year.
GM has already significantly curtailed its marketing budget, including a $600 million cut after third quarter earnings were announced back in December. The automaker was heavily reliant on incentive spending in the fourth quarter to move products as consumers cut back further on their purchases.
