GM: Ready, Set, File!

Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that GM won’t even try to make a $1b debt payment due on June 1st. The non-move virtually guarantees that the firm will enter bankruptcy protection. GM CFO Ray Young says the General is “hoping” for a successful debt-for-equity exchange with its bondholders. If that effort somehow fails (as every other GM debt-for-equity swap has so far), Young says GM will enter bankruptcy protection to reduce its unsecured debt load. My, we’ve come a long way from the Voldemort days, no? Meanwhile, AN also reveals that an Italian union official claims the Fiat-Chrysler deal is “90 percent complete.” In fact (or theory), it could be signed as soon as this afternoon—an assertion that Fiat has flatly denied.

“No agreement has been concluded between Chrysler and trade unions in the U.S. and Canada and the assertion that the overall agreement has been 90% defined is untrue. The talks remain completely open and it is not currently possible to predict the timing or the outcome,” goes the Fiat line.

Hilariously, Bruno Vitali, head of the automotive sector of the Fim-Cisl Italian union made his apparently erroneous statement immediately after a meeting with UAW boss Ron Gettelfinger. Gettelfinger officially denies leading Mr. Vitali on, but Ron can be quite the tease, can’t he?

Whether or not the Fiat deal goes through, it’s increasingly clear that Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli is on the way out. The Wall Street Journal is running a vicious obituary of Bob The Builder’s career, exhaustively detailing the many missteps, shortcomings, snubs and embarassments that make up his recent professional history. Even Wagoner never got it this bad.