GM's Bankruptcy Could Affect Japanese Industry

General Motors' bankruptcy is surely a major thing and, as we said earlier this day, it would become the third largest bankruptcy filing in US history and the largest in the auto sector. Since it currently owns carmakers in different regions of the world, such a decision would obviously have a strong impact over various car markets. But things in Japan are still calm and quiet, country's officials were quoted as saying.

However, they didn't deny the possibility to see the Japanese market slightly affected by the Chapter 11 filing. Every carmaker in the country has already applied a series of measures supposed to minimize the consequences as much as possible, they said, but the country is still closely tracking GM's evolution in the United States.

"We can't say that there won't be any impact in the process of rebuilding GM," Kazuyuki Sugimoto, vice finance minister, was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Each Japanese maker has been taking steps accordingly so I don't see big confusion occurring," he said.

Under the terms of the bankruptcy filing, General Motors will die and revive as a new and cleaner company, with the government providing an additional $30 billion loan to smooth the restructuring process. The new entity could step outside bankruptcy in 60 to 90 days, sources familiar with the matter said.

General Motors has already confirmed that it plans to shut down no less than 11 factories in the United States, with three more plants to be temporarily idled. According to the survival plan The General has sent to the US Task Force, the new General Motors will be partially owned by the UAW (17.5 percent) and the company's bondholders (10 percent).