This is a difficult but necessary decision and it was made only after the greatest deliberation. |
We have decided to substantially alter the pension benefits for current U.S. salaried employees so that we can provide a competitive and fair benefit but also reduce the financial risks to GM. While we will announce specific details early next month, we intend to freeze accrued benefits in the current plan and implement a new plan for future accruals which could include a defined contribution or cash balance plan. |
What we're all going to have to do is ratchet back production capacity, and that's painful, ... Once you swallow that, then you hopefully reach a steady state and lower level of production across the board. |
While it may have taken some time to reach this solution, I think it was time very well spent, |
While we are encouraged by the speed and scale of the changes we're implementing, there is clearly more work to be done. |
Why is every year the industry [sales] figure bigger than what we tell you it's going to be at the beginning of the year? ... Obviously the traditional models are not working. Is that going to continue indefinitely? I don't know. I suspect so. Why is it up? A lot of wealth in the U.S. economy [and] vehicle prices relative to that wealth are the lowest they've been in 20 or 30 years. |