DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp.'s top managers are working on additional restructuring measures, including production cuts, to deal with a declining U.S. auto market and an accelerated shift from trucks to more fuel efficient vehicles, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.
The person, who asked not to be identified because the plan is still being devised, confirmed Thursday that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and his top managers are working on the matter. The person said it would include further production cuts but declined to be more specific.
Another person who also asked for anonymity had said Wednesday the managers were working on a restructuring plan but did not say whether it included production cuts.
The actions, which follow thousands of job cuts over the past three years mainly through buyout and early retirement offers, likely will be announced at the company's annual meeting in Wilmington, Del., on June 3, one of the people said.
The person said GM's previous restructuring efforts, including the departure of more than 34,000 hourly workers, salaried job cuts and globalization of its product design and engineering operations, has positioned it to move quickly when market conditions change.
There should be little change in GM's product plan because the company already was moving to bring more cars and car-based crossover vehicles to market globally, the person said.
GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said he could not comment.
The new steps likely will involve further cost cuts including reduced truck and sport utility vehicle production, similar to what Ford Motor Co. announced last week. Already this week GM announced it would speed up cutting one shift each at its Flint and Pontiac pickup truck factories.
Ford on Wednesday confirmed that it is looking at involuntary layoffs of salaried employees, perhaps costing as many as 2,000 workers their jobs. Ford said earlier this month that it will cut North American production by 15 percent in the second quarter, 15 to 20 percent in the third quarter and 2 to 8 percent in the fourth quarter, primarily affecting pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night quoted GM Director George Fisher as saying the company must take further steps.
'Obviously these times dictate more actions, and Rick and the team are about doing that,' Fisher said in an interview with the newspaper. 'Rick and the team are looking at what things can be done and will be done.'
GM shares down 9 cents to $17.06 in morning trading Thursday after dropping as low as $16.87 on Tuesday, their lowest level in nearly 26 years.
The company also has just emerged from a spate of labor problems, with two local union strikes at key factories and a nearly three-month strike at key parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
GM said in a regulatory filing last week that the strikes will cost it a total of $2 billion before taxes in the second quarter.
Fisher told the Journal that GM's board fully supports the company's management team.
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