General Motors is looking beyond just surviving. While the giant automaker is operating day by day on federal bailout money, CEO Rick Waggoner told reporters today that his company is already making plans for GM's future after paying back the federal loans. "This isn't about just limping along," he told a breakfast roundtable of reporters. "We didn't start this last September" when the auto industry—and the rest of the economy—imploded, he added.
Waggoner, in Washington to meet with federal officials and pro-GM environmentalists like the National Wildlife Foundation, said that he has staff looking five to 10 years into the future as GM develops new technologies, markets, and products. Asked if the company planned to simply survive or grow, Waggoner conceded that GM is "living hand to mouth" for now but said that when it comes to growing, "there is an expectation, and it begins with us."
Waggoner, who arrived at the St. Patrick's Day session in a green Malibu, said that GM is handling the federal loans much differently than firms like AIG, which is under fire for paying out bonuses with tax dollars. "Everybody is sacrificing," he said, citing both labor and executives. "Everybody's got skin in this game."
He said that the cuts made so far, added to some new car sales revenue, have lessened the expected need for federal loans by about $2 billion. But, he added, GM is still looking for more cuts worth about $1 billion in its overseas operations. Waggoner said that European governments appear to be open to helping the car maker survive there.
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