In August, Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said GM by the end of this year may be able to reap more of the proposed savings than originally planned.

Among the savings that may be achieved in 2008 instead of next year are a portion of capital-spending cuts and 10 percent of the reductions in salaried payroll, Young said.

GM on Sept. 19 said it would draw the remaining $3.5 billion from a $4.5 billion revolving credit line. Citigroup analyst Itay Michaeli said in a Sept. 22 note to clients that the decision suggested GM's 'second-half cash burn remains quite severe.'

Tapping the credit line strengthens GM's cash access 'at a time when capital markets have become more challenging,' Borst said in his presentation today at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The change in availability of credit after the U.S. government takeover of American International Group Inc. and the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy filing 'hasn't really impacted sales in September,' he said.

GM is scaling back on auto leasing to reduce the risk to the automaker and its part-owned GMAC LLC finance firm from lower values for vehicles coming off such contracts, Borst said.

He also said industrywide sales in western Europe may fall by about 1 million vehicles this year from 2007, while central and eastern Europe may rise by almost that amount. Economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region is 'moderating,' Borst said.

GM shares closed up $0.05 at $10.40. The shares have declined 58 percent this year, the most among the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.