GM Loses Butt-Load Of Cash In 2008

by Darren

General Motors lost a few bucks in 2008. Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement. For the fiscal year ending December 2008 the Detroit auto manufacturer lost $30.9 billion. Not only is losing money the main business of GM these days, it’s an expensive one. GM also stated they burned through $6 billion of cash in the last quarter.

The question of how to keep GM alive is becoming increasingly complex as expense rise and losses mount. So far Uncle Sam has already lent the company $13.4 billion. Last week GM said they’d need at least $30 billion more to keep operational. Even with this giant influx of money, there’s no guarantee GM will stay afloat.

Rick Wagoner, a master of the obvious, said that 2008 “was an extremely difficult year for the U.S. and global auto markets, especially the second half.”

Not only that, Wagoner said he doesn’t expect things to get much better the rest of the way this year.

“These conditions created a very challenging environment for GM and other automakers, and led us to take further aggressive and difficult measures to restructure our business,” he said. “We expect these challenging conditions will continue through 2009.”

2008 ended with an 11 percent decline in GM sales. The company sold a total of 8.35 million cars worldwide.

GM stated that they might be downgraded by auditors. They expect to receive a “going concern” notice from auditors who are expected to decide whether the company can move forward, with or without government help.

Almost all metrics by which GM could be judged are down. Revenue for the latest quarter dove from $46.8 billion to $30.8 billion. The net loss went from $722 million to $9.6 billion.