Once proud of its status, now lost, as the world’s biggest automaker, G.M. must confront its weaknesses. For too long, it sold too many models, under too many brands, in too many markets — with too few customers.
If a new G.M. emerges, it is likely to be a company that trims health care for retirees, has the U.A.W. and former bondholders as its biggest shareholders, and is run by executives and a board chosen by the White House.
Above all, G.M. will have to cut far more than the 47,000 jobs it promised in its plans submitted to the government last month.
Instead of cutting eight brands down to four in the United States, G.M. may be left with Chevrolet and Cadillac. G.M.’s huge European business could be jettisoned to save the company.
G.M. might even be split, with its promising international operations segregated from its North American business, which is essentially broke.
“The old G.M. is dead, and that just needs to be said,” said James Womack, chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institute, an organization promoting efficiency in manufacturing and commerce, based in Cambridge, Mass. “That big thing that was the most successful and largest commercial enterprise for decades just doesn’t exist anymore.”
buh bye, Hummer.