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Changes are in store for the General Motors Corp. (GMGMQ) management team that oversaw the company as it spiraled into bankruptcy, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said Thursday.

Henderson, responding to questions in an online chat, said he needs time to finalize details of the changes amid the crush of business.

The comments came as GM vowed to disclose financial information despite its newly public status.

GM's management ranks, many of whom have been with the company for decades, have come under heavy criticism amid the auto maker's move Monday to file for bankruptcy protection.

Henderson acknowledged mistakes from the past played heavily into GM's demise, along with a global economic downturn and collapse of U.S. auto sales.

"We need to make some important changes in our culture," Henderson said in the chat. "Product and customers should dominate our activities and day-to-day lives. We must all feel and live with a sense of accountability."

He defended GM's current leaders, saying he values a team that has succeeded as well as learned from failure. "At least for me personally, I have been involved in both," he said.

Henderson has been CEO since April, when President Barack Obama ousted then-CEO Rick Wagoner, at the helm for nine years, as a condition for granting further federal aid.

The auto maker has been surviving on federal loans since December and is counting on another $30 billion from the U.S. government to carry it through bankruptcy proceedings. In return, the government will own about 60% of the restructured company, with the rest held by the Canadian government, United Auto Workers and current bondholders.

The UAW shot back at its critics Thursday. "The truth is that workers have made major concessions on pay, benefits and work rules that will save GM billions of dollars," UAW legislative director Alan Reuther said in a statement.

Henderson said the company is ready to face challenges in court from parties that stand to lose under its restructuring plan, which involves cutting workers, their pay and benefits, getting concessions from bondholders and forcing thousands of dealers out of business.

Dealers who remain in business after the restructuring, he said, will face new and specific "performance expectations" set by the company.

Henderson said work remains before the company can close a deal to sell its European unit to Canadian parts maker Magna International Inc. (MGA). The final decision to take over Adam Opel AG remained open Thursday after Germany's Economy Ministry said it isn't closing talks with alternate bidders after the German government named Magna as the preferred bidder.

As for GM's Hummer truck brand, Henderson says GM plans to have no stake in the company under a deal with China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Asked why GM picked the little-known construction-equipment maker as a buyer, he said the company offered "the best alternative."

"We did not have a broad portfolio of other buyers!" he said in the online chat.

GM, meantime, promised to continue disclosing financial information, although it most likely won't be required to under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

Chief Financial Officer Ray Young, in an interview with a Detroit radio station, said GM will be the "most public private" company.

-By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5532; sharon.terlep@dowjones.com