General Motors Reports Largest Loss Ever for U.S. Automotive Company

[6 Shooter]

General Motors Corp. reported the largest annual loss for an automotive company Tuesday and said it is making a new round of buyback offers to U.S. hourly workers as it struggles to turn around its North American business amid a weak economy.​

GM said it lost $38.7 billion in 2007. The loss largely was due to a third-quarter charge related to unused tax credits.

The Detroit-based automaker also on Tuesday said it was offering a new round of buyouts to all 74,000 of its U.S. hourly workers who are represented by the United Auto Workers.

The 2007 loss topped GM's previous record in 1992, when the company lost $23.4 billion because of a change in health care accounting, according to Standard & Poor's Compustat.

Excluding the tax charge and other special items, GM lost $23 million, or 4 cents per share, for the year, compared with a net income of $2.2 billion in 2006, beating Wall Street's expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected GM to post a full-year loss of 95 cents per share.

GM posted a loss of $722 million, or $1.28 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a net income of $950 million in the year-ago quarter. Fourth-quarter charges included $622 million to Delphi Corp., GM's former parts division, for its restructuring efforts.

GM reported $181 billion in revenues for the year, down from $206 billion in 2006. Its automotive business saw record automotive revenues of $178 billion in 2007, up $7 billion from a year ago thanks to growth in emerging markets and favorable exchange rates.

But GM's North American division continued to struggle, posting a $1.5 billion loss for the year.

GM's results also were dragged down by its 49 percent stake in GMAC Financial Services, which lost $2.3 billion in 2007. GM reported a $1.1 billion loss attributed to GMAC.

GM barely retained its title as the world's largest automaker in 2007, selling just 3,000 more vehicles than Toyota Motor Corp. GM sold a total of 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide, up 3 percent from the year before.

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[s'noJob]

Buy your 'Vette now while it's still being made by workers who care. I wonder how much it would cost GM to ship in 'Vettes from India, China, or Russia.

s'noJob

 

[unclevito]

My solutions to turn around GM
I would kill the Pontiac and Buick brands. Make Cadillac have some slightly
downscale models to cover what was Buick.

I would put an interior in Corvette that is commensurate with a $55k car.

I would restyle the Cadillac to look more like the STS and get rid of the
horrible slab sides.

I would quit advertising SUVs. They sell plenty of them on their own.

Top Execs would take a $1/yr salary until GM is profitable again.

Kill the SUV hybrids. They do not fool anyone. Folks can see through the
GM bull****.

Build great cars but keep the price reasonable, including Cadillac and
Corvette. GM comes up with great cars then puts an outrageous price tag on
them. You may be able to get away with these prices if resale keeps up but
you need years to build up resale value. Be patient.

Put all the Cadillac options in the Chevy and keep the price down. Give the
customer VALUE.

Get rid of the chevy bow tie, the cadillac crest; all symbols of old GM.
They do not cut it any more. Come up with new symbols.

Work on electric vehicles and hybrids but on small cars. Make them BETTER
than Toyota or Honda. Don't just meet them like you have typically done.

No one at GM has the balls to do what needs to be done.ad

Vito