Turnover continues to roil General Motors Co.’s executive ranks as two additional prominent managers depart, following last week’s upheaval when Chairman Ed Whitacre replaced Fritz Henderson as CEO.

News reports say Michael Richards, the longtime Ford Motor Co. marketer who joined GM as Buick-GMC general manager, has left after just eight days on the job. Richards arrived the same day Henderson was forced out. GM is expected to announce Richards’ replacement soon.

The company says Brent Dewar, who became general manager of its Chevrolet brand in July, has left that post and will retire on April 1. James Campbell, a 21-year GM veteran who was head of fleet and commercial operations, has taken charge at Chevrolet.

GM says Dewar, who has worked for the company since 1978, wants to spend more time with his family and pursue personal interests. He will help Campbell with the transition at Chevy and assist Mark Reuss, who became president of North American operations late last week. Dewar, who worked at GM do Brazil with Henderson in the late 1990s, was reportedly close to the ex-CEO.

Vice Chairman Bob Lutz named Dewar, then GM Europe’s sales chief, to the Chevy job when GM emerged from bankruptcy. Lutz, who began to oversee marketing in July, ceded those duties last week to U.S. sales chief Susan Docherty and assumed an advisory role.

The Dept. of the Treasury will lose $30.4 billion of the $81 billion it invested in Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co., their finance arms and suppliers-down from the $43.7 billion loss estimated a month ago, says the Government Accountability Office.

A Treasury official tells The Detroit News that the GAO believes an uptick in auto sales is increasing the government’s chances of recouping more of its loans. GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre reiterated this week that repaying the company’s government loans is a top priority.

Congress and members of the White House’s auto task force have said previously that the government is unlikely to recoup all of its aid: $50 billion to GM, $14.3 billion to Chrysler and $16.9 billion to finance units and suppliers.

The GAO said previously that the Treasury Dept. did not expect to be repaid for $986 million of loans to “old GM,” the remnants of the company that remain in Chapter 11. The bureau says it doesn’t know if the Treasury will be able to collect on $5.4 billion of debt from “old Chrysler.”

Suzuki Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG plan to form an equity tie-up in January to bolster their position in minicars and presence in China, India and other Asian markets.

VW will buy a 19.9% stake in Suzuki for $2.5 billion. Suzuki plans to use as much as half of those proceeds to buy a 2.5% voting stake in VW.

The companies plan to collaborate broadly, including shared purchasing and the development of hybrid and electric vehicles under the Suzuki and VW brands. VW hopes to benefit from Suzuki’s expertise in minivehicles and might seek to use low-cost Suzuki factories in Asia.

Suzuki would gain access to VW technology, including diesel engines. Since General Motors Co. sold the last of its 20% Suzuki stake last year, the Japanese company has said it was interested in finding a new partner to help it stay competitive.

The companies’ regional strengths are complementary. Suzuki controls about half of India’s auto market through its Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. venture, while VW is strong in China, Europe and South America.

Combined annual worldwide sales of Suzuki and VW topped 8.6 million vehicles last year, surpassing the 7.5 million sold by market leader Toyota Motor Corp. VW, which bought a 49.9% stake in Porsche AG earlier this week, has said it aims to become the world’s leading automaker by 2018.

Auto dealers whose franchises were canceled this year by Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. would be able to challenge their rejection before a third-party arbitration panel under a provision of the financial services bill approved yesterday by a joint committee of Congress.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill this week, followed by the Senate next week. The bill is expected to pass because it is a reconciled version of legislation already passed by both bodies.

Chrysler shed 789 dealers during Chapter 11. GM plans to drop 2,400 dealers by next October.

Dealers seeking reinstatement would have the opportunity to challenge the decision under broader terms than those GM and Chrysler offered last week. The companies offered to let dealers appeal to an arbitration panel that could consider claims only under the original criteria used to reject the dealers. Congress would allow dealers to present “any relevant information” and instruct arbitrators to balance the interests of dealers, companies and the public.

The National Automobile Dealers Assn. and ad hoc dealer groups praise the legislation for providing a neutral and balanced arbitration process.

Ford Motor Co. says it is in talks with partners in China about altering the structure of its three-way Changan Ford Mazda joint venture.

Joe Hinrichs, who became Ford’s president for Asia Pacific and Africa this month, tells the Detroit Free Press that the company wants to increase its 2% market share in China. He did not describe the changes Ford seeks in the venture, in which it owns a 35% stake. Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. owns 50%, and Mazda Motor Corp. holds a 15% stake.

Hinrichs notes that Ford and Mazda are working less closely since the U.S. company reduced its stake in Mazda last year. Ford also is trying to sell its Volvo Cars unit, for whom the venture also produces vehicles, to Changan rival Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.

The venture expects to sell 320,000 vehicles in China this year, up 50% from 2008. Ford brand vehicles account for about 70% of the volume. This fall the partners began building their third passenger car factory, which is to open in 2012. The plant will boost the venture’s capacity by 150,000 units to 600,000.

Daimler AG has reached an agreement with its union in Germany that promises job security to 37,000 workers at its assembly plant in Sindelfingen through 2019.

The pact ends a standoff at Daimler’s largest plant worldwide, where workers were angered by the company’s decision last week to shift one-fifth of its Mercedes-Benz C-Class production to a plant in Vance, Ala., in 2014. The company says the move will lower costs by €2,000 ($3,020) per vehicle by shielding it from currency swings and reducing labor and shipping costs.

Existing job guarantees in Germany were to expire in 2011. Daimler promises no forced layoffs for 10 years and commits to adding new models at Sindelfingen. The company said earlier this month it would transfer assembly of the SL roadster to the plant in 2014 and offer alternative positions to 1,800 workers. The pact affects 20,000 manufacturing workers and 17,000 others.

The U.S. Dept. of Labor has proposed exempting the union-run retiree healthcare trust for Ford Motor Co. retirees from a federal pension law that bars such benefit plans from owning a big chunk of the stock or bonds of the employer company.

Ford, which owes $13.2 billion to the trust, must make an initial $1.9 billion contribution in some combination of cash and stock by Dec. 31.

When the trust was conceived at Ford, Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. in 2007, the companies pledged cash contributions to cover their retiree healthcare liabilities. But earlier this year, as the economy and the industry slumped, the United Auto Workers union agreed to accept half of each company’s contribution in equities.

The trust will provide coverage for 285,000 Ford workers, retirees and dependents, starting Jan. 1. The Labor Dept. proposes naming an independent fiduciary to represent the trust in dealings in Ford stock. The proposal would become final after a 40-day public comment period and be effective at the end of this month.

American homeowners have lost $5.9 trillion in value since the housing market’s peak in March 2006, according to Seattle, Wash.-based online real estate data service Zillow.com.

The housing slump wiped out $489 billion in value in the first 11 months of this year, which was still a big improvement from the $3.6 trillion lost a year earlier.

Plunging home values have taken a severe toll on U.S. light vehicle sales because much of consumers’ wealth comes from property values. Last month Santa Ana, Calif.-based real estate data firm First American CoreLogic reported that in the third quarter almost one in four mortgage balances was higher than the value of the home.

As the net worth of American households has fallen, consumers are less willing to spend on autos. Lower housing values also mean that fewer consumers are able to use home equity loans to finance the purchase of expensive vehicles, a practice popular during the housing boom.

Analysts say the latest Zillow data offer some hope that home values are stabilizing, which could be crucial to maintaining the nascent economic upswing. But the data service cautions that federal tax credits for first-time homebuyers will expire after the first quarter of 2010 and mortgage rates are likely to rise, thus putting downward pressure on home prices.

Automakers and dealers spent $7.5 billion on advertising during the first nine months of this year, down from $10.8 billion in the same period of 2008, says TNS Media Intelligence. Total advertising across all sectors fell 15% in that period.

Despite year-over-year spending declines for 17 straight quarters, autos still remain the largest advertising category in the U.S., according to the New York City-based advertising tracking firm.

Bill Parfitt, chairman and managing director of General Motors Co.’s Luton, England-based Vauxhall Motors unit, has agreed to postpone his retirement to become chairman of U.K. operations.

The company says Parfitt’s job will be to prepare the British business for future growth. A former dealer who joined Vauxhall in 1998, Parfitt has been chairman for two years.

Last month GM named Duncan Aldred, sales operations director for GM Europe, to succeed Parfitt at Vauxhall at year-end.

GM has been scrambling to restructure Opel/Vauxhall since deciding last month to keep the unit instead of selling it to Canada’s Magna International Inc. and Russia’s OAO Sberbank.

Nick Reilly, who was head of international operations, became CEO of Opel/Vauxhall last week. He is expected to annou

Chrysler Group LLC has chosen Universal McCann as the media planning and buying agency for all its brands in North America, replacing Omnicom’s PHD agency on the media account.

The appointment is the latest in a series of shakeups of Chrysler’s advertising accounts. New managers have been divvying up BBDO’s creative work on all the company’s brands among new agencies. Dallas-based Richards Group is handling the Ram truck brand. Southfield, Mich.-based GlobalHue has the Jeep account, and Publicis Groupe’s Minneapolis-based Fallon Worldwide won the Chrysler account. BBDO plans to close its Detroit office by the end of January.