UPDATE:GM Targets $6 Billion Financial Support From 5 Foreign Govts

General Motors Co. (GM) is trying to line up $6 billion in financial support from five governments in addition to the U.S. federal aid outlined in its restructuring plan late Tuesday.

The U.S. automaker said it is in talks with authorities in Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Canada and Thailand to secure the aid by March 31, in line with a U.S. government deadline for continuing and extending support to keep the company out of bankruptcy protection.

GM provided far more detail on its U.S. plans in the survival document, but is targeting $1.2 billion in savings from its European operations and said planned expansion in Asia won't proceed without support from governments or other partners.

It is suspending work on expanding two plants in Thailand "indefinitely" and said Indian expansion was no longer "self funding".

The company said 26,000 of the planned 47,000 job cuts would come from outside the U.S., and warned of the possible closure or spin-off of European plants in "high-cost locations".

Media reports have suggested the company could close as many as four of its nine European manufacturing facilities, triggering calls from union leaders for its Opel and Vauxhall brands to be spun off or sold.

The company is also restructuring its regional sales network and said a sustainable strategy in Europe "may include partnerships" with the German government and/or other nations.

GM said its loss-making Saab Automobile AB unit could seek bankruptcy protection as early as this month as it seeks a buyer, a move contingent on backing from the Swedish government, but envisages it becoming an independent entity by year-end.

The company forecast global industry light vehicle sales would drop to 57.5 million this year from 67.2 million in 2008, recovering to 62.3 million and 68.7 million in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Its European forecast is for industry sales to drop from 22 million last year to a midpoint of 18.4 million in 2009, though this could slide as low as 16.9 million. Latin America is the only region where industry sales are expected to rise year-on-year.

GM has cut assumptions for its own 2009 market share in Europe and Latin America from those contained in its original restructuring plan last December, but left them unchanged for Asia-Pacific.

The plan envisages GM's non-U.S. operations breaking even on an adjusted EBIT basis in 2010, and reaching positive cash flow the following year.

GM aims to secure the $6 billion from the non-U.S. government sources by 2010, though notes in its plan there is no guarantee the funding will be forthcoming.

The Thai government earlier this month indicated it wouldn't provide support to GM's Thai unit.

"I appreciate the difficulties the industry is going through, but our plan at the moment is not to provide specific assistance to individual companies," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said at a news conference during a three-day trip to Japan in early February.

A Thai government spokesman couldn't be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

The Thai unit of the struggling U.S. automaker has sought assistance from the Thai government to fund a planned THB15 billion ($429 million) pickup truck project in the country.

Similarly, a South Korean government official Wednesday reaffirmed the government's stance earlier this month when it rejected a request for financial aid from GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Corp.

GM didn't provide details on whether non-U.S. funding is contingent on backing from the Obama administration, or whether part of it would be garnered on a secured basis.

While the strategy details model launches and product plans for the U.S. market, there was little on development overseas, barring the continuation of the fuel-efficient Holden marque in Australia, which has secured government support.

Separately, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (7211.TO) said it will effectively cut its long-standing original equipment manufacturer contract with Chrysler LLC in 2010, effectively ending a tie-up that stretches back more than 30 years.

The end of the alliance couldn't come at a worse time for Chrysler, which is seeking an additional $2 billion in federal funds on top of the $7 billion bailout it requested in December as part of a viability plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135, [e-mail]

(Phisanu Phromchanya in Bangkok, Kyong-Ae Choi in Seoul and Yoshio Takahashi in Tokyo contributed to this story.)