General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC are in better financial shape than the U.S. government expected them to be at this point of time, Ron Bloom, the head of the Obama administration's autos task force told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Thursday.
Bloom told the paper that GM is doing "slightly better" than government officials had expected, while keeping in mind factors such as market share, sales, cash reserves and product plans.
GM is also on course to returning to the stock markets in the second half of next year, the paper cited Bloom as saying.
Largely by rebuilding cash reserves, Chrysler is also exceeding government expectations, Bloom told the paper.
Bloom, whose assessment is based largely on U.S. vehicle sales, told the paper the Obama administration is hopeful sales will slightly improve in 2010.
The Obama administration has extended $30 billion and bankruptcy financing and working capital to GM, and $8.5 billion to Chrysler. Those taxpayer investments translate into a 60 percent stake in GM and a nearly 10 percent share of Chrysler.
