DETROIT — Saying "We're well on our way," GM CEO Fritz Henderson on Wednesday gave an update on the company's progress following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. He said the Chevrolet Volt "remains on track to begin production in late 2010" but noted that the Hummer deal with its Chinese buyer "didn't make our 9/30 date."
Hummer is in the process of being sold to Sichuan Tenzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, a Chinese firm that has not built passenger vehicles before. Earlier, GM had said the deal was expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2009.
"I met with the [Sichuan Tenzhong] CEO and chief engineer yesterday," Henderson said. "We feel good about the progress we've made. We're working hard to make sure we do our part. The buyer is interested."
Regarding the Volt, GM said on Wednesday that more than 80 pre-production Volts have been built and are being road-tested.
In his wide-ranging remarks on Wednesday, Henderson said the pressure is on the Chevrolet brand to "fill the void" that is being created by the death of Pontiac and Saturn.
"With intelligent planning, Chevrolet can fill that role," he said. "I've seen signs that Chevrolet can pick up the pace. The biggest concern is [replacing] Pontiac G6 volume relative to midsize cars. That's the volume we have to fill. But having the [Chevrolet] Cruze come in, in exchange for [the Chevrolet] Cobalt, we have a chance to boost the share."
Henderson said the automaker is focusing more on "product and customers.? [We're spending] far more time on product and customer issues and less time on how you structure the business," he said. "That has fundamentally changed in the last six months. I can look at my diary and my schedule and it's fundamentally changed. Far more time spent on it today than six months ago."
Henderson was unable to quantify much of his remarks on GM's health, however, saying that he would review financial results with the media and auto analysts in mid-November. He said the company's U.S. market share was 19.5 percent in the third quarter versus a market share of 22.1 percent in 2008.
"We're developing a plan for next year built around a forecast in the U.S. of 11.5 million units," he said.
Inside Line says: Despite Henderson's reassurance, here's hoping that the Hummer deal doesn't run into the same brick wall that the Saturn/Penske deal encountered. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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