Delivering his first press conference as General Motors’ new Chief Executive Officer, Fritz Henderson spoke with confidence that the automaker will succeed, but he did say that GM would be willing to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier than June 1 should the restructuring not proceed as rapidly as necessary.
Speaking of the need to “reinvent GM,” Henderson said during the televised press conference that GM would prefer to restructure outside of a court, but will do whatever is necessary to survive. He did say that a government-sponsored bankruptcy seemed likely.
“If we’re not able to accomplish what we need to do [in order to] have a viable business, we’ll move faster. More time isn’t going to help the process,” Henderson said during the televised press conference.
“We will get the job done. We will either do it out of court or we will do it in court,†he said. “But we will get the job done in terms of recreating and reinventing General Motors as a competitive enterprise – one that wins in the market place.â€
He implied that further personnel cuts would be forthcoming as the former world’s largest automaker trims its operations to better compete.
Henderson did not deliver news on the fate of any of GM’s brands. Over the weekend, Henderson was appointed CEO of GM when the Obama administration forced now-former CEO Rick Wagoner to step down.
