Obama Sees ‘Painful’ Birth of New G.M.
The governments of Canada and Ontario will contribute an additional $9.5 billion.
A reconstituted G.M. is expected to emerge from bankruptcy with its best assets, including its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands, and with 60 percent government ownership. The remaining stock will be split among a U.A.W. health care trust, bondholders and the Canadian governments.
But closed plants and discontinued brands — Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer — will be among the assets that will not remain with the company.
Mr. Henderson said the bankruptcy represented a “defining moment” for the automaker that would allow it to “permanently” unshackle itself from the cost of supporting hundreds of thousands of retirees and the $27 billion in debt that was held by investors.
Still, it will take more than financial restructuring to stem G.M’s decades-long slide in market share, from more than 50 percent in the 1960s to about 20 percent now.
Fixing the balance sheet is only the beginning, said Joseph Phillippi, an industry consultant. “The second half is going to be cultural,” he said. “G.M. was No. 1 for so long, and now it’s going to be another carmaker in the middle of the pack.”
Mr. Henderson promised a renewed commitment to its customers, and even offered an apology of sorts for the poor quality of past G.M. products. “The G.M. which let too many of you down is history,” he said.
The fall of G.M. was also marked by its removal from the group of 30 blue chip companies that comprise the Dow Jones industrials average. Shares of G.M. closed at 75 cents on Monday.
Mr. Obama said the government would take a hands-off approach to managing G.M., and would divest its stock in the company as soon as it could. But that is likely years away.
Meanwhile, the Ford Motor Company — the only member of Detroit’s Big Three to not require federal assistance — expressed concern Monday that it could be hurt by the extraordinary level of aid given to G.M.
“We look forward to working with the Obama administration to ensure that the government’s majority ownership of G.M. will not change the industry’s competitive dynamics and that a level playing field will be maintained,” Ford said in a statement.
Once G.M. has finished cutting jobs, brands and models, it could fall behind Ford in terms of sales and revenues.
The cuts at G.M. include two assembly plants in Michigan, and two in Delaware and Tennessee. Other large plants that stamp metal parts or build engines will be shut in Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and New York.
Workers at the Willow Run plant in Michigan learned their factory was closing when they arrived at the union hall at 7:30 a.m. They were told that some production would stop immediately, and all but 300 of 1,100 workers would be laid off within months.
“It’s like being at a funeral,” said Mr. Skidmore, the plant’s union leader.
Michael J. de la Merced, Bill Vlasic, Jeff Zeleny, David E. Sanger and Micheline Maynard contributed reporting.
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