General Motors to cut 21,000 jobs

Tuesday 28th April 2009, 11:05AM BST.

General Motors to cut 21,000 jobs General Motors has announced plans to cut 21,000 jobs by next year as part of its restructuring plan.

The struggling car manufacturer outlined the plans on Monday and said it would also phase out its Pontiac brand in a bid to attract more government aid.

GM has until June 1st to convince US president Barack Obama it deserves billions more dollars of government loans to prevent it from going bankrupt.

The company is currently surviving on $15.4 billion (£10.5 billion) of government loans and claims it may need an additional $11.6 billion (£7.97 billion).

GM has said it will ask the United States government to take up more than 50 per cent of its common stock in exchange for cancelling half of the loans.