WASHINGTON, July 14 (Kyodo) — U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC for emerging from bankruptcy "in record time" in the past few weeks.
"Now, today, after a painful period of soul-searching and sacrifice, both GM and Chrysler have emerged from bankruptcy," he said in a speech in Warren, Michigan.
"They've gotten it done already, in record time, far faster than some thought possible," Obama said. "They've got a leaner structure. They've got new management, and a viable vision of how to compete and win in the 21st century."
GM said last week it has completed the sale of its core profitable assets to a new government-backed company, effectively marking a rare speedy exit out of bankruptcy.
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Obama had initially expected the entire process to take about 60-90 days. But a new GM has now emerged in around just 40 days since it filed for Chapter 11 on June 1 in the biggest failure of a U.S. manufacturing company in history.
Chrysler also filed for Chapter 11 at the end of April and completed the sale of its assets to Italian carmaker Fiat SpA within about 40 days.