Business Highlights

With bankruptcy looming, a new GM begins to emerge

DETROIT (AP) — With an almost certain bankruptcy filing days away, General Motors is beginning its reinvention, planning to retool one factory to make its smallest vehicles ever in the U.S. and rid itself of the biggest.

As GM's board began two days of meetings Friday to make a final decision on the company's fate, GM was also closing in on a sale of its European Opel unit, and its main union overwhelmingly approved dramatic labor cost cuts. A deal to sell its rugged but inefficient Hummer brand also appeared on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers union has ratified a package of concessions designed to reduce General Motors Corp.'s labor costs, completing a key piece of the automaker's massive restructuring effort.

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Chrysler appears hours away from Fiat sale ruling

NEW YORK (AP) — Chrysler LLC could be hours away from a ruling on its plan to sell most of the company to a group led by Italy's Fiat Group SpA, a big step toward its goal of a speedy exit from bankruptcy protection.