GM announces more job cuts, restructuring

CEO Wagoner says auto manufacturer has 'a plan to win'

By Plant Engineering Staff July 15, 2008

General Motors announced Tuesday a massive restructuring plan designed to focus on fuel efficient cars. To get there, GM will cut an unspecified number of jobs, eliminate health
“Our plan is not a plan to survive. It is a plan to win,” GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday.
The first phase of job cuts are expected to occur through attrition, company officials said, but involuntary layoffs may follow. Earlier this year, GM offered buyout packages to all 74,000 GM workers in an attempt to reduce the company’s overhead.
For the first six months of 2008, GM sales are down 16% and truck sales are down 21%, which had driven the automaker to reduce its truck manufacturing capacity and ramp up sales of fuel-efficient cars. Wagoner said the company would now focus on more fuel efficient cars, and said Tuesday the capacity reduction at the four Nort American truck plants would accelerate.