By AP
DETROIT, MI – A leaner General Motors has emerged. The automaker is making a quick exit from bankruptcy, hoping to make money and build cars that people are more eager to buy.
The new GM is cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans. The U.S. government owns a majority stake, although the Obama administration says it has no plans to run the automaker.
The new GM also emerges amid the worst sales slump in a
quarter-century.
CEO Fritz Henderson says the new GM will be faster and more responsive to customers than the old one and it will make money and repay government loans faster than required.
Henderson said GM completed its 40-day stay under court supervision far faster than anyone thought it could. He said it would repay about $50 billion in government loans ahead of a 2015 deadline.
He said the company now will focus more on customers, including a partnership with eBay to test auctioning vehicles online.