GM chief to quit under Obama auto plan

US President Barack Obama has asked the head of General Motors to resign, US media reported, a day before the US leader spells out his plan for the future of the crippled auto sector.

"The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed," Politico.Com reported, citing an unnamed White House official.

As Obama prepared to announce his new plan at 1100 hrs today, he made it clear he felt General Motors and Chrysler had not yet done enough to restructure their companies and earn billions more bailout dollars.

"They're not there yet," Obama told CBS television yesterday.

"We think we can have a successful US auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is."

Both companies have warned they are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and cannot survive without another USD 21.6 billion in government loans.

An Obama task force has been working to resolve the woes of the auto industry, a key pillar of the US economy that has been hit hard by plunging global cars sales amid the economic downturn.