By Tom Braithwaite in Washington, Bernard Simon in Toronto and Francesco Guerrera in New York
The car sector claimed its first two top-level victims on Sunday when Rick Wagoner and Christian Streiff were ousted from General Motors and Peugeot Citroën, respectively, as both executives failed to navigate the huge challenges facing the industry.
Mr Wagoner is to step down as chief executive of GM after eight years at the request of the White House ahead of President Barack Obama’s announcement on Monday on the auto industry, administration officials said on Sunday.
A person close to GM said that Mr Wagoner’s departure and the government intervention made it likely GM would file for bankruptcy protection sometime in the next few weeks.
In a statement, Mr Wagoner said: “On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I ‘step aside’ as CEO of GM, and so I have.”
