GM to speed car launches, target market share gain

* GM to free cash to accelerate vehicle launches-chairman

* Chairman Whitacre says automaker aiming for higher share

* Whitacre says board unanimously backs CEO Henderson

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT, Aug 5 (Reuters) - General Motors Co [GM.UL] will use some of the funding left from its bankruptcy reorganization to accelerate key vehicle launches as it focuses on recapturing lost market share, the automaker's chairman said on Wednesday.

Ed Whitacre, the former chief executive of AT&T Inc (T.N), was speaking a day after concluding his first meeting presiding as chairman of GM's reorganized board.

At the two-day board meeting, directors asked the automaker, now majority owned by the U.S. government, to move up the start of production of some planned models, addressing a weakness for the reorganized company.

"It's important to us that we improve our market share. That translates to the top line, and that is important to this company," Whitacre told a small group of reporters on a conference call organized by GM. "We need to improve the number of vehicles sold."

Whitacre was one of 10 appointees to the reorganized board supported by the U.S. Treasury, which now owns a nearly 61 percent stake in GM.

The 13-member board gave its unanimous endorsement to GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson at the initial meeting of directors, Whitacre said.

Full Story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...rpc=44&sp=true

 

GLOBAL AUTO SALES
GM draws closer to No. 1 Toyota, VW gains as demand shrinks

Paul McVeigh
Automotive News
August 9, 2009 - 12:01 am ET

General Motors Co. came close to regaining the top spot from Toyota Motor Corp. in a shrinking global auto market during the first half, while No. 3 Volkswagen AG gained ground on both.

GM, which trailed Toyota by more than 274,000 units after the first half of 2008, was behind by about 11,000 units through the first six months of this year. GM's sales fell 21.8 percent vs. Toyota's 26 percent. (View table below.)

Volkswagen closed the gap with Toyota by more than 1 million units by limiting its decline from a year earlier to 5.1 percent, according to a tally by the Automotive News Data Center.

No. 5 Ford, the only U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy in the first half, posted the biggest drop among the top 10, down 30.6 percent, as the industry battled a worldwide plunge in demand.

During the first six months, Toyota sold 463,805 more vehicles than VW. In the first half of 2008, Toyota outsold VW by 1.55 million. VW closed the distance with No. 2 GM by 823,503 units.

The top 10 ranking comprises five Asian, three European and two U.S. carmakers.

GM's first-half sales figure includes results from Saturn, Saab, Hummer and Pontiac, brands that the automaker is either in the process of selling or shutting down.

By most tallies, GM held the No. 1 title for almost 80 years before yielding it to Toyota in 2008.

 

great news. i think the american motor companies will make a comeback.

 

Great!!!!

 

First thing to speed up Chevy Cruze. Cobalt is a Outdated typical Old Chevy. Blah.

 

Anyone else find it interesting Hyundai-Kia have taken the #4 Spot from Ford?

 

2 against 1. Those Korean's joined forces. Next thing you know North will be Merging with South.