General Motors has stepped out of bankruptcy protection a leaner greener company. The company now majority-owned by the U.S. government took just 40 days to restructure its assets.

GM is now made up of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. There is still 11 billion USD in debt carried over to the new company. In a press conference today, GM CEO Fritz Henderson implied that there is still more pain to come before profitability.

Salaried employees will be reduced 20 percent, and the number of white collared workers will be reduced some 35 percent. Among the positions eliminated is that of president of GM North America. No word yet if current GM North America president Troy Clarke will continue with GM.

Bob Lutz has reconsidered his retirement and will remain vice chairman. He will be responsible for “all creative elements of products and customer relations”. Lutz will report to Fritz Henderson and will be a part of a new executive committee.

The new GM will have its work cut out for it. Sales of the four best brands have been dismal. Buick sales are down 34 percent so far this year. Cadillac sales are down 45 percent. Chevrolet sales down 38 and GMC are down 39. In June 2009 GM saw its U.S. market share fall to second place behind Ford.  G.M had a market share of 16.5 percent   compared to Ford’s 17.2 percent. Toyota was third in the U.S. with 15.3 percent followed by Honda with 11.7.

Car buyers have been sceptical at best with GM. GM is planning several unique ways to get customers interested in GM again through the Internet. A website called “Tell Fritz” will let customers make suggestions directly to the CEO. Henderson also said in today’s news conference that GM will experiment with selling cars through the online auction site eBay.

As for the old GM. The company will have assets including 16 abandoned plants, including several contaminated factory sites, and of all things a 9 hole golf course in New Jersey. They will be sold through bankruptcy court and be funded by the U.S. treasury to the tune of 1.175 billion USD. The old company will be called Motors Liquidation Co. and will remain in Chapter 11. GM listed global liabilities reached a staggering 176.4 billion when it seeked bankruptcy protection on June 1st of 2009.

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