GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is scheduled to outline the plan to employees, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"This is real, hard stuff," one person briefed on the plan told the paper. "It not only assures our survival, but will make us a radically leaner, more focused company with much lower fixed cost."
Along with cost-cutting measures, GM may announce new steps to improve liquidity, such as a dividend cut or reductions in executive pay, these people said.
One person familiar with GM's plans was quoted as saying the moves that will be announced are aimed at putting the auto maker in a position to "generate sufficient liquidity on our own". The measures were approved by GM's board in a meeting on Monday morning, people familiar with the matter said. A GM spokesman declined to comment further.
The announcements, the Journal said, will follow weeks of rising uncertainty for the No.1 US auto maker by vehicle sales. The company's stock price has plunged to the lowest level in last 50 years. Its shares fell 54 cents, or 5.4 per cent, to $9.38 at 4 pm at New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Monday.
