61 percent:
U.S. government
  17.5 percent: United Auto Workers union through its retiree health-care trust
  11.7 percent:
Canadian government
  9.8 percent: bondholders from the old company

A bankruptcy judge has ruled that General Motors Corp. can sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, potentially clearing the way for the automaker to quickly emerge from bankruptcy protection. U.S. Judge Robert Gerber said in a 95-page ruling late Sunday that the sale was in the best interests of both GM and its creditors, whom he said would otherwise get nothing.

Which brands are slated to go? Pontiac, Hummer, Saab and Saturn.
  Where do they stand? GM said it would stop making Pontiac-brand cars. GM is selling Hummer, Saab and its Saturn dealer network.
  What’s next? Pontiac production is scheduled to wind down by the end of the year as the company discontinues the brand.

An attorney for General Motors urged a bankruptcy judge yesterday to approve the automaker’s sale plan, saying that the only other alternative would be a liquidation of the company’s assets that would have “horrific” consequences. But an attorney for a trio of bondholders opposed to General Motors’ sale told the judge to call the government’s bluff and require the automaker to restructure itself through a more traditional Chapter 11 process instead of through the quick sale of its assets.

After a yearlong free fall in the American car market, the decline of sales slowed in June, offering hope to automakers that the bottom has been reached and that shoppers may slowly start returning to showrooms soon. Still, sales were down 7.1 percent from May, which generally is a stronger sales month. Overall, automakers sold 859,847 vehicles in June, a 28 percent drop from the same month last year, according to Autodata Corp.

China’s planning agency is likely to reject a Chinese company’s bid to acquire General Motors Corp.‘s Hummer unit, in part because its gas-guzzling vehicles conflict with Beijing’s conservation goals, state radio reported. The National Development and Reform Commission is likely to say Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., a maker of construction machinery, lacks the expertise to run Hummer, China National Radio said, without citing any source.

A bankruptcy judge ruled yesterday that a group of dissident General Motors Corp. bondholders challenging the automaker’s plan to sell its assets to a new company don’t need their own official committee. Judge Robert Gerber denied the request of the Unofficial Committee of Family & Dissident GM Bondholders, saying the group is already represented by the unsecured creditors committee. It is made up of 15 members representing a variety of GM stakeholders, such as its unions, suppliers, dealers and bondholders.

Whitlow Chevrolet and Dominion Auto Group’s Southpark Chevrolet and Cadillac franchises are closing as part of General Motors Corp.‘s streamlining of its dealer base. The three are among nearly 2,000 dealerships whose franchise agreements will not be renewed by the bankrupt automaker when they expire in October 2010, according to representatives.

A bright spot has surfaced in a sea of negative auto-sales statistics for General Motors Corp. The company said yesterday it will recall 900 workers and restore the second shift at a factory near Lansing, Mich., because of increased sales of its Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia large crossover vehicles. Spokeswoman Sherrie Childers Arb said the laid-off workers will come back to the plant starting Aug. 24, with the second shift continuing indefinitely.

DETROIT—For the new owners of Saab Automobile to make money selling small numbers of cars across the globe, they have to return to the Swedish automaker’s roots, industry analysts say. Somehow, a consortium of investors led by custom sports-car maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB must restore Saab to the quirky, cutting-edge and reliable brand once favored by professionals who wanted to look smart rather than wealthy.

General Motors has told NASCAR teams it is cutting back on its support in all of the sanctioning body’s professional series. Among the teams already notified that they will lose funding are JR Motorsports, owned by Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kevin Harvick Inc., co-owned by Cup star Harvick and his wife, DeLana. JRM races in the second-tier Nationwide Series, while KHI has entries in Nationwide and the third-tier Camping World Truck Series.

Under withering criticism in Congress, General Motors and Chrysler executives yesterday called the closings of hundreds of dealerships painful steps needed to right-size the auto giants. Down-on-theirluck dealers said the moves would needlessly devastate their local economies and livelihoods. “Many dealers and the communities they serve frankly feel blind-sided,“ said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.

The House yesterday approved a “cash for clunkers” bill that aims to boost new auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles. President Barack Obama has encouraged Congress to approve consumer incentives for new-car purchases as part of the government’s work to restructure General Motors and Chrysler. The House approved the bill 298-119.

Cisco Systems Inc. and Travelers Cos. yesterday joined the elite circle of 30 blue-chip businesses that make up the Dow Jones industrial average. As a result, the stock market’s best-known barometer dropped General Motors Corp. and Citigroup Inc. The decision to replace General Motors with Cisco is recognition that technology is a primary innovator and spark plug of the nation’s economy, experts say. And that trend is turning heads everywhere from Wall Street to Washington.

General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to auto racing magnate Roger Penske’s dealership group, both companies said yesterday. “We’re just ecstatic over it,“ said Haywood “Huddy” Hyman, owner of the Saturn of Richmond dealership. “We just feel like it’s going to be terrific.“ Hyman was one of the first Saturn dealers in the country, opening his Midlothian Turnpike location in 1990. He is the only Saturn dealer in the Richmond region.