General Motors is making another move to respond to the changing economic times in the automotive industry. As part of a cost-cutting initiative, General Motors Corp. is postponing nearly all of its spending on product development in 2009 and 2010.
The spending will be postponed and held over in areas of engineering, design, and development, meaning that General Motors won’t be spending its budget on developing vehicles for the future. GM hopes to save as much as $1.5 billion as a result of this. The introduction of key vehicles such as the new compact Chevrolet Cruze, due to start production in 2010, could be delayed.
General Motors Corp. spokesman Tom Wilkinson told a throng of reporters that the company had a basic idea to follow the market where it went and that GM will align its resources around top-priority programs. “We adjust them where the market programs are going,” Wilkinson said.
GM has been hoping to improve production levels on many of its smaller vehicles, which is why the Chevrolet Cruze was such an important part of the company’s arsenal. If any delays are serious in production, the mandate of the company to go smaller may be impacted considerably. On the contrary, if more top-priority dollars are given to Chevy cars that will make a considerable “green” impact, GM could come out of this better than ever.
