Taxpayers may never recoup GM bailout

DETROIT, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- General Motors Co. has what may be an impossible task in repaying U.S. taxpayers their $50 billion investment in the restructured company, analysts said.

GM is far smaller than it was when the automaker hit peak value of about $57.2 billion in 2008, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday. The new GM needs to be valued at about $68.7 billion for taxpayers to recoup their investment, the newspaper said.

With GM just out of bankruptcy and sales mired in a slump, company share values have to rise more than 20 percent above their historic high for the company to be valued at the taxpayers' breakeven point.

"The odds of getting paid back in full are pretty slim," said Peter Cohan, an economic analyst Babson College.

Along with the sales slump, GM has shed Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac, bringing its market share down from 19.2 percent to 16.4 percent, Cohan said.

"The question is, do you think GM can get back to 3.5 million sales in North America or are they stuck at 2.5 million?" Center for Automotive Research chief economist Sean McAlinden asked.

"That's a million-unit difference and that will determine the company's ability to pay back the taxpayer," he said.