Despite decades-low sales, Henderson said, that will be possible thanks to a huge production slowdown planned for this spring and summer that will reduce inventories by nearly 250,000 cars and trucks.
Henderson also acknowledged that the automaker was in talks with Fiat -- among other interested parties, including an Austrian-Canadian-Russian consortium -- to sell it a majority stake in GM's Opel division.
Such a deal could be cemented, though not finalized, this month, he said.
According to Pierluigi Bellini, a Milan-based analyst for IHS Global Insight, any deal to buy Opel would be complicated by the fact that Germany, where Opel's largest operations are based, has parliamentary elections in September.
While the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrats, has expressed openness to an Opel sale, the opposition Social Democrats have lined up against such an outcome, particularly if it involves Fiat, on fears of layoffs and possible plant closures.
Closer to home, Henderson said that GM had narrowed the field of bidders for its Hummer sport utility vehicle brand to two, which he did not identify. A third has been eliminated, he said, and a deal could be announced before the deadline.
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ken.bensinger@latimes.com
