Obama gets tough on US car industry

Washington Post Editorial: Tough but Fair - President Obama's response to the auto companies offers a narrow path forward.
Copyright by The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 31, 2009; Page A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/30/AR2009033002761.html


PRESIDENT OBAMA yesterday delivered a believable, sharp and necessary ultimatum to U.S. automakers. "We cannot make the survival of our auto industry dependent on an unending flow of taxpayer dollars," he declared. It wasn't exactly rhetoric worthy of Dirty Harry, but we hope it will cause General Motors and Chrysler to undertake the financial and structural reforms they have been avoiding.

Since December, the federal government has funneled some $17.4 billion into the two companies. GM and Chrysler had agreed, as a condition of the loans, to significantly alter their business plans, negotiate further concessions from union workers, and restructure or eliminate billions of dollars worth of debt by March 31. The president announced a day early that the companies had come up more than a few dollars short. But rather than immediately cut the companies off from the dole, as the December agreement allowed, Mr. Obama offered them a last chance to make a go of it.

The administration, which concluded that Chrysler has no chance of succeeding as a stand-alone enterprise, gave the company 30 days to finalize a merger with Italian auto manufacturer Fiat. Chrysler was offered an additional $6 billion if it consummates the deal, and was threatened with a fund cutoff if it fails. Mr. Obama was both more generous and more demanding with GM. Chairman and chief executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr., who faced the possibly impossible task of turning around the long-ailing auto giant in the midst of the deepest financial and credit crisis in a generation, was forced out by the White House. Mr. Obama praised GM for making progress on eliminating waste and rethinking product lines, but he rightly insisted on more: more cuts, more streamlining, more restructuring.

It is important that the president did not flinch in demanding even deeper concessions from workers. And he was right to keep on the table the possibility of a court-supervised bankruptcy, in which contracts can be ripped up and debts erased with little input from unions and little promise of creditor payback. All sides should work to avert this possibility by making tough decisions that will keep the company alive and preserve as many jobs as possible.

The administration has a delicate task. It must be careful not to undermine the ability of GM's new leaders to make market-driven decisions they believe are in the company's long-term interest. Yet it must not let up on holding accountable an enterprise whose very existence is being made possible by taxpayer dollars.

Do you have a different view of this issue? Debate a member of the editorial board today at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions.




New York Times Editorial: The Last Best Chance for Detroit
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 30, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/opinion/31tue1.html?_r=1&ref=global


President Obama struck an acceptable compromise on Monday between two unappealing options: letting General Motors and Chrysler go bankrupt right away or giving them tens of billions of dollars more while hoping for the best. Instead, he decided to finance their operations for just a matter of weeks while forcing them to come up with a better plan to overhaul their businesses.

Now that the government is in control of the process, it must stick to its stated objectives and deadlines. If Chrysler can’t reach an acceptable merger deal with Italy’s Fiat in a month, the government must let go, even if this means certain liquidation.

The government has 60 days to clean up G.M.’s balance sheet, eliminate debts and shed product lines and dealerships so it can emerge as a smaller, viable car company. The Obama administration should stand by its offer to support both companies through a quick and controlled bankruptcy process. Considering the unwillingness of bondholders to swap debt for equity in the automakers, bankruptcy proceedings will probably be necessary to clear most of the companies’ debt.

The government’s $17.4 billion bailout of G.M. and Chrysler last year was the right move. Including jobs at parts manufacturers and car dealers, hundreds of thousands of jobs were on the line. Still, the automakers failed to put together adequate restructuring plans that guaranteed their survival as self-sustaining companies at the other end of the taxpayers’ multibillion-dollar bailout. The government was right to refuse the additional billions they requested.

The automakers failed to reach agreements with their bondholders, to convert debt into equity, or with the United Automobile Workers union, to use equity to finance a fund for retiree health care. The restructuring plans they offered were wildly optimistic. They presumed that the companies would keep most of their market share, a dubious assumption considering past performance. And their sales projections were out of touch with the precipitous decline in the American car market.

Mr. Obama’s task force decided that Chrysler, which is heavily dependent on sport-utility vehicles, was not only hampered by the wrong product mix but also too small to survive on its own. And while the task force decided that G.M. seemed on its way to an eventual turnaround, it was seen as moving way too slowly in culling its unprofitable brands and changing its product mix. Even under an optimistic scenario, it was expected to lose money for years.

The government’s new, forceful stance is more likely to produce a meaningful overhaul of the car industry. Forcing G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign was a necessary step to bring in new leadership that can set the company on a new course. A government-backed bankruptcy process could be used to discard G.M.’s liabilities and unwanted assets and produce a profitable, albeit smaller, car company. For Chrysler, a merger with Fiat appears to be a good fit.

There will be resistance to allowing G.M. to undergo a bankruptcy proceeding. If Chrysler is threatened with liquidation, there will be enormous pressure for the government to provide more money to save it. But the auto task force has come up with what seems to be the best shot we have at obtaining a viable auto industry. The president must stick to it.





Financial Times Editorial Comment: US should not be taken for a ride
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: March 30 2009 20:58 | Last updated: March 30 2009 20:58
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1784cce-1d54-11de-9eb3-00144feabdc0.html


The Obama administration’s firm stance on aid for the country’s struggling carmakers surprised most observers, most of Wall Street, and not least Rick Wagoner, the ousted chief of General Motors. Despite pressure to quit from outsiders in recent months, Mr Wagoner, a 30-year veteran of the company, retained the backing of the board and appeared to think he could hang on. The government rejected his restructuring proposals and insisted on his departure. It was right on both counts.

Administration officials, mindful of a backlash against use of taxpayer funds to bail out failing enterprises, found that neither GM nor Chrysler had put forward credible plans for survival. Chrysler has no future as an independent company, they concluded, but the firm has been given a last chance, and a month’s worth of working capital, to ally with Fiat. The prognosis for GM was a little more favourable. The company has a future, says the administration, but only if it tries harder to cut costs and restructure.

Failure up to now to secure adequate concessions from creditors and the United Auto Workers union has been the main sticking-point. For both companies, supervised bankruptcies may now be the best way to force the necessary sacrifices – though, at least in GM’s case, Mr Wagoner’s removal may focus minds sufficiently to re-energise the stalled discussions. It was enough to persuade interested parties that the administration might not be bluffing when it says it is willing to let the companies go under.

Jennifer Granholm, governor of Michigan, said that the administration had made a sacrificial lamb of Mr Wagoner. His defenders point to efforts to cut costs, shed some of the firm’s brands, and pare back its dealership network. All this was too little and too late. Concessions won from the union on wages and the overhead of pensions and healthcare payments were inadequate. On the company’s newest proposals, said the administration’s task force, “cash needs associated with legacy liabilities grow to unsustainable levels, reaching approximately $6bn per year in 2013 and 2014”.

After these too-timid changes, the company was still plainly unviable. Since the board chose not to act, the administration was right to hold Mr Wagoner accountable. But it is important to hold the UAW accountable as well. Further support for the companies must not be a bail-out of the union, so deeply implicated in the companies’ failure. Mr Obama’s team has been tough with management. It must be tough on the UAW as well, or put both firms into bankruptcy.







Obama gets tough on US car industry
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington, Julie MacIntosh in New York, Bertrand Benoit in Berlin and John Reed in London
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: March 30 2009 18:03 | Last updated: March 31 2009 03:09
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72e5d0f8-1d40-11de-9eb3-00144feabdc0.html


The Obama administration on Monday ratcheted up the government’s involvement in the US auto industry, raising the spectre of bankruptcy if debtholders, unions and executives at General Motors and Chrysler fail to make new sacrifices.

Condemning “a failure of leadership” from Washington to Detroit for the decline of America’s carmakers, President Barack Obama rejected the turnround plans GM and Chrysler presented to his administration last month. He said the government would fund GM for 60 days as it tries to put together a more aggressive restructuring programme. He gave smaller Chrysler 30 days to strike an acceptable rescue alliance with Italian carmaker Fiat.

The deadlines marked the latest step in the administration’s increasingly interventionist approach to the auto industry. Just hours after forcing Rick Wagoner out as GM chief, the Obama administration said it would let GM and Chrysler slide into bankruptcy if necessary to facilitate the industry’s restructuring. “Their best chance at success may well require utilising the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way,” it said.

Fritz Henderson, speaking on his first day as GM’s chief executive, indicated that he believed the risk of GM filing for bankruptcy had grown

The federal government appears to favour a restructuring plan – in development since November – under which GM could file for bankruptcy protection within a month and then split the viable parts of its business from its messier obligations, people close to the matter say.

A “new” GM containing the good assets – and backed by a plan to build and sell cars that the government feels is acceptable – could then emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The administration told Chrysler to extract heavy concessions from workers and debtholders and redraft its proposed alliance with Fiat, or risk losing its federal financing. Chrysler and Fiat expect the government to play a significant role in shaping their developing agreement, said one person close to the matter.

GM and Chrysler, which have requested an additional $21.6bn of federal funds, will receive capital to continue operating as they race to meet the deadlines.

The increased threat of automaker bankruptcies led to a steep fall in US share prices. Shares in GM fell 25.4 per cent as the S&P 500 lost 3.5 per cent









GM and Chrysler denied extra funds
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: March 30 2009 11:25 | Last updated: March 30 2009 13:19
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2ede9ae-1cc1-11de-977c-00144feabdc0.html


The Obama administration refused on Sunday night to give fresh bail-out money to General Motors and Chrysler, telling the carmakers to come up with new plans or risk insolvency.

GM has received $13.4bn in government aid and had asked for an additional $16.6bn. Chrysler has received $4bn and had asked for another $5bn. But both companies failed to meet targets on cutting their debt and reducing the cost of benefits paid to workers.

The crisis talks between the companies and the administration’s auto task force cost the job of Rick Wagoner, chief executive and chairman of General Motors, who was asked to step down by the White House after 30 years with the carmaker. The chairman and chief executive positions will be split with company president Fritz Henderson taking over as chief executive and Kent Kresa, chairman emeritus of Northrop Grumman, taking the position of interim non-executive chairman.

Officials said on Sunday night that Chrysler would be given 30 days and GM 60 days to reach agreement with debtholders and unions, with new tougher targets for cost cutting, or they would lose their last chance for a government bailout, almost certainly sending them into bankruptcy.

“That’s going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved: management, labour, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers,” President Barack Obama said Sunday on CBS, before the details had been laid out.

“Everybody is going to have to come to the table and say it’s important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road ... They’re not there yet,” Mr Obama said.

The task force, whose members include former investment bankers Steve Rattner and Ron Bloom, decided that the companies had failed to prove their viability and would not, therefore, receive the combined $21.6bn of taxpayer money they had asked for.

However, both carmakers will be supported with working capital as they work to meet their new deadlines on restructuring and could end up with more funds than they had requested. Existing loans will not be recalled.

Warranties on the companies’ cars sold in the US will be guaranteed by the government in a bid to prevent buyers from turning away from GM and Chrysler. US car sales have dropped from 16m a year earlier this year to a current trend of less than 10m a year.

GM’s Frankfurt-listed shares dropped sharply, falling 11.6 per cent.

Chrysler’s hopes for survival hinge on finalising a partnership agreement with Fiat, the Italian carmaker, which has offered to acquire 35 per cent of Chrysler in return for technology.

In a bid to prevent US taxpayer money going overseas, the task force has said it would offer up to $6bn in support to Chrysler but only with the agreement from Fiat to build new cars and engines in the US.

If Fiat wants to lift its ownership above 50 per cent, Chrysler will first have to pay back the bail-out money.

A senior administration official said the companies had failed to meet a number of benchmarks, including the requirement for GM to reduce its $27bn unsecured debt to $9bn.

Bondholders in GM, who have railed against the administration and the company as the March 31 deadline for an agreement approached, are now faced with conceding to new, even tougher, demands for debt reduction or accepting the results of a court-supervised bankruptcy.

The task force has made clear that it does not want to see the companies lapse into a traditional Chapter 11 bankruptcy from which they are unlikely to re-emerge, but would use a quick court-supervised process to restructure them forcibly as part of any final settlement.

Even though it is Mr Wagoner who is unseated at GM, the company received a much better report card than Chrysler, whose cars were condemned as lacking in quality.

While the task force concluded that GM could be turned into a strong business, it decided that Chrysler cannot survive independently.




U.S. Lays Down Terms for Auto Bailout
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and BILL VLASIC
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 30, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/30auto.html?ref=global-home


WASHINGTON — The White House on Sunday pushed out the chairman of General Motors and instructed Chrysler to form a partnership with the Italian automaker Fiat within 30 days as conditions for receiving another much-needed round of government aid.

The government would back an account to pay for repairs on autos made during the manufacturers’ restructuring periods.

The decision to ask G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign caught Detroit and Washington by surprise, and it underscored the Obama administration’s determination to keep a tight rein on the companies it is bailing out — a level of government involvement in business perhaps not seen since the Great Depression.

President Obama is scheduled to announce details of the auto package at the White House on Monday, but two senior officials, offering a preview on condition of anonymity, made clear that some form of bankruptcy — a quick, court-supervised restructuring, as they described it — could still be an option for one or both companies.

Mr. Obama’s auto industry task force, in a report released Sunday night assessing the viability of both companies and detailing the administration’s new plans for them, concluded that Chrysler could not survive as a stand-alone company.

The report said the company would get no more help from the government unless it can finalize a proposed alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat by April 30. It must also reduce its debt and health-care obligations.

If a deal is reached between Chrysler and Fiat, the administration says it would consider another loan of $6 billion to Chrysler.

G.M., on the other hand, has made considerable progress in developing new energy-efficient cars and could survive if it can cut costs sharply, the task force reported. The administration is giving G.M. 60 days to present a cost-cutting plan and will provide taxpayer assistance to keep it afloat during that time.

Along with Mr. Wagoner’s ouster, the task force said most of the company’s board would be replaced over the next few months. In a statement Monday, Mr. Wagoner said he had been urged to “step aside” by administration officials, “and so I have.”

His resignation is the latest example of the government taking a hands-on role in making major decisions at companies it is bailing out. The government has already pushed banks to make management changes and sharply reduce or eliminate their dividends, and it also is directing many of the decisions at the troubled insurance giant American International Group, which is nearly 80 percent owned by the government after its rescue.

In deciding to urge Mr. Wagoner to step down, the Obama administration seemed mindful of the public’s growing outrage over bailouts of private companies, as well as the bonuses paid to employees of A.I.G.

Mr. Obama is well aware that he cannot afford to give the appearance of using tax dollars to reward executives who have done a poor job, and he began signaling as early as last week that he would take a tough stance with the automakers.

In a question and answer session at the White House on Thursday, the president said there had been “a lot of mismanagement of the auto industry over the past several years,” and declared that more government help would be contingent on the companies’ “willingness to make some pretty drastic changes.”

The plan Mr. Obama is to announce on Monday will also include government backing of warranties for G.M. and Chrysler cars and trucks, to give consumers enough confidence to buy them, even if one or both are forced into bankruptcy.

In Detroit, the G.M. board said Monday in a statement that it “has recognized for some time that the company’s restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience.”

“The board intends to work to nominate a slate of directors for the next annual meeting that will include a majority of new directors,” the board said.

Mr. Wagoner has presided over a steep drop in G.M.’s domestic market share, which has led to tens of billions of dollars in losses. His critics have said that management’s failure to move aggressively to address the company’s problems contributed to its dire financial situation.

“The bigger surprise is not that he resigned. That was going to happen sooner or later,” said Michael Useem, professor of management at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. “But the moment seems inexplicable.”

G.M. and Chrysler have almost exhausted the combined $17.4 billion in federal aid they have received since December. G.M. has asked for up to $16.6 billion more, and Chrysler has requested another $5 billion.

Bondholders are under pressure to convert two-thirds of the $27 billion owed them into G.M. stock, while the United Auto Workers union is being asked to substitute stock for 50 percent of their health care benefits for retirees. Both groups have resisted those changes.

Administration officials say they have enough money to offer the assistance they envision under plans already approved by Congress. Even so, Mr. Obama may face skepticism on Capitol Hill and from the public.

As part of the companies’ original agreement for the loans, both were required to submit restructuring plans. Mr. Wagoner’s removal underscores how much more G.M. needs to cut than was proposed in the plan the company submitted.

Administration officials stressed that the company needed a fresh approach and leadership changes; they said Steven Rattner, the former investment banker who co-chairs the auto task force, delivered the news to Mr. Wagoner.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg reported from Washington and Bill Vlasic from Detroit. Micheline Maynard and Nick Bunkley contributed reporting from Detroit and David M. Herszenhorn from Washington.

As recently as March 18 he said in an interview that his discussions with the task force did not give him the impression that his job was at stake. “They so far haven’t commented on that,” he said then.

Frederick A. Henderson, G.M.’s president, will succeed Mr. Wagoner on an interim basis as chief executive; Kent Kresa, a board member, will assume the chairmanship. Members of the auto panel spoke with Mr. Henderson recently and came away with a favorable impression of him, people familiar with the panel’s discussions said.

Like Mr. Wagoner, Mr. Henderson is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and a lifer at G.M. He started in the finance division in 1984 and later spent nine years in executive positions in South America, Asia and Europe. The Detroit-born son of a G.M. sales manager, Mr. Henderson, 50, became chief financial officer in 2006 and was named president and chief operating officer a year ago.

Mr. Wagoner’s departure at G.M. marks an end to a corporate hierarchy that spanned generations. The last G.M. chairman to leave under duress was Robert C. Stempel, who was forced out in 1992 by outside directors who blamed him for losses.

Mr. Wagoner, 56, came to G.M. in 1977 and rose to become chief financial officer in 1992 when he was 38. He oversaw the company’s North American business for years before being named chairman in 2000.

G.M.’s share of its most important market, the United States, declined steadily under Mr. Wagoner. In 1994, when he took charge of North America, G.M. held 33.2 percent of the American car market. Last month, G.M.’s share was only 18.8 percent, according to statistics from Motorintelligence.com, which specializes in industry data. Auto sales in February were the worst for the industry since 1981.

G.M. collapsed last fall when new-vehicle sales in the United States plummeted to their lowest level in 25 years. G.M. lost more than $30 billion in 2008, and has been subsisting on government loans since the beginning of the year.

The administration briefed lawmakers on the plan Sunday night. Afterward, Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter, Republican of Michigan, whose district is just outside Detroit, expressed frustration over the ousting of Mr. Wagoner and with administration officials for not being clearer about the potential job losses that lie ahead.

“Why would you ask Rick Wagoner to resign when you are giving G.M. 60 days to meet a new target, but you aren’t saying what the new goal is yet,” Mr. McCotter said in an interview.






The Steady Optimist Who Oversaw G.M.’s Decline
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 29, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/30wagoner.html?th&emc=th



DETROIT — In recent years, despite many challenges to his leadership of General Motors, Rick Wagoner had managed to keep a firm grip on his job, like hands wrapped tight around a steering wheel.

Rick Wagoner took over G.M. in 2000. Since then, shares have fallen 95 percent.

During his tenure as chief executive, beginning in 2000, the company’s stock has fallen from $70 a share to less than $4 now, and its market share has fallen roughly 10 percentage points.

There have been many challenges to his authority, most notably from the investor Kirk Kerkorian in 2006 and from angry members of Congress during hearings last fall. Throughout the attacks, he had managed to retain the unwavering support of his board.

For a time, it seemed he might become the rare chief executive who gets another chance, this time to try to fix many of the problems that occurred on his watch.

But he appears to have met his match in President Obama, whose calls for sacrifices from all sides apparently included a call for Mr. Wagoner to step down.

In a statement early Monday, Mr. Wagoner said he had been urged to “step aside” by administration officials, “and so I have.” He thanked G.M. employees for their support. “G.M. is a great company with a storied history.” Mr. Wagoner said. “Ignore the doubters because I know it is also a company with a great future.”

The United Automobile Workers union had no comment on Mr. Wagoner’s departure. But Michigan’s governor, Jennifer M. Granholm, echoed an fledgling sense in Detroit that Mr. Wagoner may be viewed as an auto industry martyr. Speaking on MSNBC, Gov. Granholm said Mr. Wagoner was a “sacrficial lamb.”

During his nine years in charge, Mr. Wagoner never appeared to waver from his determination that G.M. would reclaim its spot as the unrivaled leader of the auto industry, despite steadily falling sales.

Through three major restructuring plans enacted on his watch — eliminating dozens of plants, tens of thousands of jobs and jettisoning hundreds of dealers — Mr. Wagoner maintained a stolid confidence in himself and the company’s strength. Only recently did he acknowledge the need to significantly pare the company’s brand and model lineup, to better match the company’s bloated infrastructure with the shrinking market.

Only at the second round of Congressional hearings last fall did Mr. Wagoner start agreeing that the company had made mistakes, and that its problems were not all attributable to outside forces like the weakening economy and tightening credit markets.

Mr. Wagoner joined G.M.’s financial operations in 1977 out of Harvard Business School, and, like generations of executives before him, worked nowhere else during his career.

Mr. Wagoner vaulted into Detroit’s consciousness in 1992 upon another resignation during a financial crisis — that of Robert C. Stempel, the chief executive at G.M. at the time.

Then only 38, Mr. Wagoner became G.M.’s chief financial officer. Two years later, he was named president of its North American operations.

His mentor, the chief executive John F. Smith Jr., named Mr. Wagoner president of G.M. in 1998, and he succeeded Mr. Smith in the top job in 2000.

Like Mr. Smith, Mr. Wagoner aggressively expanded G.M.’s operations outside the United States. The company now sells 65 percent of its vehicles overseas, thanks to Mr. Wagoner’s push into markets like China, Russia and Latin America.

However, G.M.’s sales slump at home led to it losing its longtime title last year as the world’s largest auto company, replaced by Toyota.

“It’s a pretty unceremonious ending,” said John Casesa, an industry analyst and managing partner of the Casesa Shapiro Group. “G.M. lost its way in the ‘70s, but the company didn’t know it until 20 years late. The hole was much deeper than he realized when he became C.E.O.”

And, Mr. Casesa said, Mr. Wagoner’s finance background might have been a poor fit: “The most successful auto companies are run by people who came out of the revenue-generating functions — manufacturing, design, marketing — making cars and selling cars.” Mr. Wagoner, the analyst said, “skipped the whole apprenticeship that most auto C.E.O.’s experience.”

Mr. Wagoner presided over some of the biggest losses in G.M. history. In 2002, the company had predicted that it would earn $10 a share by the middle of the decade.

Instead, G.M. lost $30.9 billion in 2008, when its per-share loss translated to more than $50 a share. G.M. stock, an economic bellwether that sold above $35 only three years ago, closed Friday at $3.62; it has fallen as low as $1.27 in the last year.

In 1994, when he took charge of G.M.’s North American operations, the company made up 33.2 percent of auto sales in the United States.

Last month, G.M. represented only 18.8 percent of American car and truck sales, according to statistics from Motor Intelligence, which tracks industry data.

Under pressure to stop G.M.’s sliding market share, Mr. Wagoner hired Robert A. Lutz, a longtime auto industry executive, in 2002. Mr. Lutz reorganized G.M.’s product development operations, and introduced a number of new vehicles, including sporty models like the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

Both Mr. Lutz, who had previously announced his plans to retire by year’s end, and Mr. Wagoner have championed the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric car that G.M. plans to introduce in late 2010.

Mr. Wagoner has said that one of the moves he regretted most was G.M’s decision to kill the EV-1, an electric car that it leased to customers in the late 1990s. Although the vehicle was not profitable, it helped G.M.’s image with environmentalists, which in 2006 Mr. Wagoner conceded he had understood too late.

Only six months ago, Mr. Wagoner stood in front of hundreds of G.M. employees in the atrium of the company’s Detroit headquarters, celebrating the automaker’s 100th anniversary.

Dressed in a gray suit and a yellow, blue and white striped tie, Mr. Wagoner said: “So, what’s our assignment for today and tomorrow? Above all, it’s to demonstrate to the world that we are more than a 100-year-old company. We’re a company that’s ready to lead for 100 years to come.”