Greenwire, 3 July 2008 - General Motors Corp., struggling to adapt to a fuel-scarce economy, may begin selling a tiny car normally reserved for Asian and Latin American markets in the United States.
The 138-inch-long Chevrolet Beat, which gets as much as 40 miles per gallon, would be the second-smallest car in the United States after Daimler AG's 106-inch Smart car.
"This is a very big change for GM," said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at Global Insight. "They have no choice. There has never been as rapid a shift in consumer demand in the history of the auto industry."
GM reported its biggest annual loss in 2007 and has not turned a profit since 2004. The company's stock fell 15 percent yesterday -- bringing its current market value down to a tenth of what it was eight years ago -- and a Merrill Lynch analyst says that bankruptcy is "not impossible if the market continues to deteriorate."
