GM preparing for high oil prices: chief executive

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2009

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — General Motors is preparing for oil prices as high as 130 dollars a barrel once the world economy recovers and will develop more electric cars and biofuels, GM's top executive said Wednesday.

"We're planning for oil in the 100 dollars per barrel to 130 dollars per barrel range," the bankrupt automaker's chief executive Fritz Henderson said at an energy conference in Detroit sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club.

"This is a structural change," he added, noting increased global demand.

He also said that car sales in China are set to surpass those in the United States this year for the first time ever in a landmark shift.

"We used to think that might happen in 2015 or 2020," Henderson said.

For GM to be competitive, the company...