GM says cost-cutting nearly done, sales chief out

General Motors Co is on track to complete a wrenching cost-cutting but faces risks from an uncertain U.S. economy and rising unemployment as it tries to win back consumers, the automaker said on Wednesday.

In an update on GM's progress in the three months since it emerged from bankruptcy, Chief Executive Fritz Henderson also said Mark LaNeve, the company's top U.S. sales executive, would be leaving the company.

LaNeve, 50, becomes the latest senior GM executive to leave at a time when Henderson is pushing to change the culture of the 101-year-old automaker under the scrutiny of a new board demanding quick results.

Susan Docherty, 46, a veteran GM executive whose career has included stints managing the now-scrapped Hummer and Pontiac brands, was named to replace LaNeve.

Henderson declined to discuss what he called rumors that Chief Financial Officer Ray Young would also depart.

GM's new 13-member board, led by Chairman Ed Whitacre, met this week in Detroit for the third time since the new company was launched out of bankruptcy with $50 billion in U.S. government funding.

At the board's prior meeting, directors discussed the possible departure of Young and made it clear the U.S. sales team would have to deliver a quick turnaround to avoid a shake-up, people familiar with the discussions have said.

GM ended the third quarter with its global and U.S. market share above initial targets, despite a high-profile bankruptcy that hurt its credibility among consumers.

GM said its global market share was 11.9 percent in the third quarter. Its U.S. market share -- including brands being scrapped, such as Pontiac and Saturn -- was 19.5 percent, down from 22.1 percent at the end of 2008.

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