Washington  - General Motors head Fritz Henderson is still confident that the ailing US carmaker can avoid bankruptcy as a government-imposed June 1 deadline for the company to restructure its operations grows ever nearer.

Henderson, who took over as GM chief executive this month in a government-forced shake-up, acknowledged that "the clock is ticking" for the company to shed loss-making brands, make serious cuts to its labour costs and debt burdens or risk losing state support.

In a teleconference with reporters, Henderson said the company was making progress in off-loading subsidiaries including Opel, Saab, Hummer and Saturn.

GM has already received 13.4 billion dollars in emergency government loans and has said it could need as much as 30 billion dollars more to survive the current downturn, which has seen US car sales plummet nearly 40 per cent since October.

President Barack Obama last month gave GM a June 1 deadline to make the cuts necessary to remain viable, or lose the government loans and be forced into a managed bankruptcy. (dpa)