WASHINGTON - - General Motor Corp., long the titanic symbol of American might and lately a stark reminder of the nation's failings, plans to file for the largest industrial bankruptcy in U.S. history today.
The move, part of a government-led restructuring, ends months of anxiety and uncertainty about the legendary automaker, which only a decade ago was the world's largest company. GM becomes another victim of the deep recession, formally succumbing to years of bad management, questionable quality, changing consumer tastes and a historic collapse of global auto sales.
The company joins Chrysler as the bankrupt duo of Detroit's once-formidable Big Three.
But the Obama administration is touting the bankruptcy filing as the beginning of a new era for GM, a painful but necessary court-supervised restructuring that will make the company profitable again and a leader in producing fuel-efficient vehicles.
"For the better part of a century, the General Motors Corporation has been one of the most recognizable and largest businesses in the world," the White House said in a four-page statement on GM's restructuring. "Today will rank as another historic day for the company - the end of an old General Motors, and the beginning of a new one."
President Barack Obama is expected to announce the bankruptcy filing in a White House speech this morning, the end result of a 60-day restructuring challenge he gave to GM this spring, senior administration officials said Sunday. GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson will hold a news conference shortly after that in New York, where the company will submit its bankruptcy filing.
Like Chrysler, which could emerge from a government-overseen bankruptcy of its own as early as today, GM will sell its best assets into a new company, leaving much of its debt and unwanted assets behind.
Unlike the sudden bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. last September, which triggered the financial crisis and the government's unprecedented intervention into the economy, GM's Chapter 11 reorganization is a carefully planned and long-telegraphed petition spearheaded by the Obama administration.
It aims to help the automaker emerge from bankruptcy in two to three months as a smaller, leaner and more competitive company.
