By on March 21, 2008

pileofcash.jpgIn his first conference call with automotive analysts, freshly-minted GM CFO Ray Young said that his employer has $27.3b in cash and $7b in undrawn credit lines upon which to draw. Although that ain't hay, subtract the $10b GM needs to keep the lights on, consider the company's ongoing cash conflagration, factor in declining sales and the American Axle strike's effect on cash flow, remember that GM lost $10.6b in 2005, keep in mind that GM's already sold the family silver and… the automaker's liquidity isn't quite so reassuring. But don't take my word for it. "As CFO, my priority is making sure this place is funded," Young said. "While we believe the industry (in U.S. sales) will be in the low 16 million units, we have triggered actions right now to make sure we start to conserve liquidity." Automotive News [sub] reports that GM's Beancounter-in-Chief revealed that GM is postponing [unspecified] non-product related capital expenditures from the first half of '08 to the latter half of the year– and beyond. "If the market doesn't return, we will defer that further into the future," Young said. GM's CFO said the suits are now running the business on a "quarter-to-quarter" basis. Oh, and Young said that GM ran about 940k units of dealer stock the end of February, roughly 125k units below the level at this point last year.

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19 Comments on “GM Down to Its Last $34b...”


  • avatar
    Dinu

    [sarcasm] Good times ahead! [/sarcasm]

    Frankly, I’m worried. That leaves how many “years in business” left?

  • avatar
    TriShield

    Circling the toilet.

  • avatar
    Tkc23

    i hope they dont tank before the camaro comes out!!

  • avatar
    moawdtsi

    to Tkc23

    who is going to honor your camaro’s warranty?

  • avatar
    Cicero

    GM Down to Its Last $34b

    Been there. It’s rough.

  • avatar
    Cicero

    freshly-minted GM CFO Ray Young

    Here’s the helm of your new command, Mr. Young. It’s called the Titanic.

  • avatar
    ihatetrees

    moawdtsi:

    who is going to honor your camaro’s warranty?

    Depending on the outcome of this year’s elections, the Feds may very well buy the future votes of GM workers/buyers come out with a plan to help the poor sods who bought new Camaros and Corvettes.

    Or perhaps the future Cerberus Performance Cars LLC… I can see the storyline now…

    It’s late 2009… Having bought the names Corvette/Camaro/Firebird from the bankruptcy court, CPC will roll out the Three-Headed-Dog Warranty. For an inspection fee of $500 (that’s redeemable on their new Camaro when it rolls out), they’ll honor your warranty.

  • avatar
    hltguy

    So, how exactly are they going to fund the VEBA? with mortgage backed securities?

  • avatar
    Rix

    The finance guys have never been GM’s problem, at least when they stay on the financial side of the business they are very competent. It’s when they get to the automotive side of the business that they become problems…

  • avatar
    talldude07

    This is quite sad…it makes me want to take my mom’s brand new Kia back to the dealer and trade it for a G-something. On a serious note it does sadden me to see GM in the state they are in however they began digging their own grave years ago. I mean come on build a car people want to buy with good quality and they would not have been in this mess to begin with. Well I guess its time to file for CH11 bankruptcy and trim the dealer network to a fifth of what it is. Such a mess. Its only going to get better before it gets worse.

  • avatar

    The Chevy Bolt.

  • avatar
    Ingvar

    How much money is GM burning every day?

    For a comparison, Watch the K Foundation burn a million quid:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=JxC9wgm27j0

    Yes, it is real money. And yes, they actually set fire to it. On purpose. As a statement. One million pounds fifteen years ago should be in the near of around 3 million dollars today. What is more nonsense? Actually set fire to real money just for fun, or investening in GM stock?

  • avatar
    gmbuoy

    CD 10 Best ? ? ?
    Consumer Reports : Best Pickup ?
    Motor Trend COY ?, NAIAS COY(last two years)? ?
    J.D.Power Medal Winning Initial Quality Plant in N.A. 5 of last 7 years ?

  • avatar

    gmbuoy :

    CD 10 Best ? ? ?
    Consumer Reports : Best Pickup ?
    Motor Trend COY ?, NAIAS COY(last two years)? ?
    J.D.Power Medal Winning Initial Quality Plant in N.A. 5 of last 7 years ?

    That’s the one.

  • avatar
    L47_V8

    gmbuoy :
    March 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 am

    CD 10 Best ? ? ?
    Consumer Reports : Best Pickup ?
    Motor Trend COY ?, NAIAS COY(last two years)? ?
    J.D.Power Medal Winning Initial Quality Plant in N.A. 5 of last 7 years ?

    Not sure what the point of this keyboard spasm was, but if it’s supposed to convince us that GM can and will stay in business, you’ve failed to convince me.

    Awards do not equal sales. I’m not saying this is necessarily true about these awards, but awards can be bought. Sales, well, I suppose you could give the cars away but that wouldn’t help the bottom line, as the past 7 years have shown for many carmakers in the US.

  • avatar
    yankinwaoz

    Gosh… with their liabilities such as the VEBA and debts that means that GM is worth less than zero.

  • avatar
    jkross22

    Since so many consumers do research online for cars, how is GM going to convince buyers they’re going to be around for longer than the next few years?

    They don’t have an Iaccoca type leader, but maybe begging for a consumer funded bailout would work. If that happens, it will simply make me and others run away from GM even faster.

  • avatar
    GS650G

    gmbuoy

    Too bad it all does not translate to sales. They still keep score in dollars.

    The Renault Alliance was a COY too, remember?

  • avatar

    low 16s? keep dreaming. the revised estimate is 14.95 million.

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