General Motors hits a massive speed-bump along the road to recovery

摘要

After three straight quarters of profitability, the Detroit auto giant General Motors Corp on 7~(th) November posted a stunning third-quarter 2007 loss of 39 billion dollars. By way of comparison, its year-earlier loss was 147 million dollars. The results were all the more startling for their emergence from a stream of good news for GM last year. Not only had the company taken back its position as the world's biggest car maker from Toyota Motor Corp, of Japan; it had also concluded a landmark labour deal with the United Auto Workers that would greatly ease a crushing burden of responsibility for long-term health care for retirees.