General Motors Granted More Time by Spyker

Auto giant General Motors

has been granted an extended deadline by Spyker, as the Dutch automaker seeks a response to its lawsuit seeking over $3 billion in damages. GM has already said that the lawsuit is “without merit”, but Spyker maintains that GM blocked a deal with a Chinese investor, effectively bankrupting Saab, the Swedish subsidiary of Spyker.

at the beginning of August that Saab had been trying to work out deals with various Russian, Middle Eastern and Chinese investors in order to stay in business. GM, which is in a partnership with Chinese owned SAIC Motor Corp., blocked deals that Saab had with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile. The company blocked the deal by stating that it would stop supplying vehicles to Saab's new owners because it would be against shareholder interests, due to the face that the chassis structure of most Saab models are GM design and technology. That same week, GM became involved in a lawsuit set to pit general creditors against hedge funds. A trust for creditors of the old, bankrupt part of the auto-maker now known as Motors Liquidation Co. sued the hedge funds in a Manhattan bankruptcy court in March, alleging that while GM was preparing its bankruptcy filing on June 1, 2009, four hedge funds, which held notes in a Canadian unit of GM, “saw an eleventh-hour opportunity for profit and pounced.” The additional time that has been granted by Spyker may well provide a welcome respite for GM. On the bright side, the company is making very positive press about the new Cadillac ATS which it hopes will compete in the luxury sedan market and eventually with the BMW 3-series. According to the

, Mark Reuss, head of GM's North American operations, said “I'm fully aware this change isn't going to happen overnight with this car alone. We have to keep doing what we did with this car over the next 10 or 20 years to prove it.” Although Cadillac's new ATS model is aimed to directly compete with BMW's 3-Series, it will be some time before the ATS makes an impact on the 3-Series' loyal owners and high level of regard in the segment. However, the fact that the company is moving towards that goal is proof of just how far GM has come since its catastrophic collapse and $50 billion government bailout. GM is making strides forward, taking risks that will surely bode well for the future in this competitive market. On Friday morning, General Motors traded at about $21.35, down roughly 1.8 percent.