GM Not Optimistic About the Rest of 2008: Exec.
U.S. carmaker General Motors is not looking at the rest of the year with huge optimism, its chief operating officer said on Tuesday.
"We do not have a huge amount of optimism for the rest of the year as the pressure on consumer continues," Fritz Henderson told reporters after inaugurating the U.S. carmaker's second plant in India.
"August felt a lot like June and July. It was another fairly tough month," he added.
However, GM was fairly confident of raising the required capital through secured borrowings and asset sales, Henderson said.
The troubled U.S. carmaker has been under increasing pressure to cut costs and raise capital because of the slump in U.S. auto sales that pushed its first-half sales down 16 percent.
High fuel prices, a consumer shift away from low-mileage trucks and the weakest U.S. auto sales in a decade have increased investor doubts about GM's ability to ride out the downturn.
