Company News: GM will ‘fight hard for every sale,’ CEO says

General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner vowed to “fight hard for every sale” after Toyota Motor Corp. said it sold more cars in a quarter than GM did for the first time ever in early 2007.

Wagoner made the comment in an e-mail message to company officials only hours after the disclosure on Tuesday.

He said he “didn’t welcome this morning’s news, and I know you didn’t either,” but said GM’s business strategies around the globe were working and would help the auto manufacturer succeed.

“We still have the majority of the year in front of us, and we will fight hard for every sale — all the while staying focused on our long-term goals as a global, growing company,” Wagoner said in the e-mail obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Toyota said Tuesday that it sold 2.35 million vehicles worldwide in the January-March period, surpassing the 2.26 million vehicles GM sold in the quarter, according to preliminary figures.

“A federal bankruptcy judge approved on Wednesday a Delta Air Lines plan to exit bankruptcy after the nation’s third-largest airline spent nearly 20 months in a wrenching reorganization that cut 6,000 jobs and slashed $3 billion in costs.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. expects to emerge from court protection Monday. It estimates it will be worth $9.4 billion to $12 billion, after Delta reduced labor costs, restructured its fleet and terminated a pilots pension plan.

More than 95 percent of creditors voted to endorse the plan for Delta to leave bankruptcy as a stand alone carrier. That plan had been put in jeopardy by a $9.8 billion hostile takeover bid launched last fall by Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Group Inc. Delta successfully persuaded creditors to back its blueprint to emerge from bankruptcy and reject the buyout offer.

“AOL is expanding to India with its first portal targeting Asia’s growing online population.

Although AOL has been dropping its Internet access businesses around the world, it has been making a bigger push at delivering content through free Web sites in hopes of boosting advertising opportunities.

AOL expanded its portal audiences in Europe as part of deals to sell off its access businesses there.

The Indian portal, launching Thursday at http://aol.in, will be in English. Although only a small fraction of India’s population can speak it, English has become a common language in business and government circles.