General Motors, the largest U.S automaker has just revealed the plan it has submitted to Congress today. It shows how far GM is willing to go in order to secure bridge loans from the federal government.

The plan includes the possible sale of Saab, killing Saturn and scaling back Pontiac, as well as reducing dealers and shedding more workers, among other things. Here are a few solutions that GM presented :

  • Focus on “core brands”: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac
  • Launch predominately high mileage, energy-efficient cars and crossovers
  • Sell Saab, HUMMER
  • Sell or kill Saturn
  • Reduce Pontiac to a “niche” brand
  • Trim dealerships from 6,450 to 4,700
  • Reopen talks with UAW to cut manufacturing costs further
  • Reduce total workforce from 96,000 to 65-75,000
  • Negotiate with lenders, remove $35.6 billion in debt

To do all this, GM is asking for a total of $18 billion in loans ($12 billion by the end of next March to make it through the rest of 2009 and another $6 billion if conditions don’t begin to improve by then).
The automaker stated that it needs $4 billion by the end of this month to continue operating and intends to start repaying the loans by 2011.

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