Henderson Calms Ford Down: Feds Will Stay Away of New GM

Even if the United States government will own the majority stake in the future General Motors, this doesn't necessarilly mean the feds will get involved into the business, GM's President and CEO Fritz Henderson said after the company announced the bankruptcy filing. Companies involved in the automotive industry, including Ford, were afraid that the government could influence GM's future, which would obviously result in a major advantage for the bankrupt automaker.

But what's interesting is that Henderson only said that the government won't get involved in the development of the next-generation coupe or sedan, letting us wondering whether the feds might influence other models included in GM's restructuring plan. "I don't think it's going to happen," he said. "President Obama was quite clear that [the government won't have influence over] the next-generation coupe or sedan. We've not seen that through the automotive task force process," he said according to edmunds.com.

Asked when the newly-formed General Motors will be able to get out of federal government ownership and become a privately-owned entity, Henderson said that nobody knows the answer to this but assured "it will be a question of years, not months."

The New GM will be much more consumer-oriented than the bankrupt automaker, he said, with the restructuring process expected to turns things around. "But no matter how you look at it, this is a new beginning for GM," he explained. "Do it once, do it permanently. There are no second chances. We won't need one. The product development factory at General Motors will do its job."