The rating reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view that, among other things, Detroit-based General Motors Co.'s (GM's) prospects for generating free cash flow and profits in its automotive manufacturing business will continue because of improvements in its cost base in North America and prospects for some gradual improvement in light-vehicle sales in North America in 2013. We assume GM's automotive free operating cash flow (FOCF) during 2012 will be at least $3 billion (equivalent to about a mid-single-digit percentage of our estimate of debt in 2012). We also assume that GM can sustain its pretax automotive EBIT margin in North America in the upper–single-digit percentage area and its total automotive EBIT margin in the mid-single-digit area, that cash use
