GM Chief: I Answer to My Board of Directors

The newly installed head of General Motors said Tuesday he's not concerned the Obama administration will try to oust him if he doesn't come up with a plan in 60 days -- as mandated by President Obama -- to demonstrate his company's viability.

Asked about his future status at the nation's largest automaker during a press conference in Detroit, new chairman Fritz Henderson was momentarily stumped.

When the reporter questioned whether the Obama administration had assured him it wants him to stay on beyond 60 days, Henderson replied, "Me? I don't worry too much about that."

He then said he answers to the GM board of directors as well as the Treasury Department.

"If they want to replace me, they can do it," Henderson said.

The new chief may want to consider his future after his predecessor, Richard Wagoner, was summarily ousted by the administration this weekend as one of several conditions to which the auto manufacturer must agree to receive any additional bailout funds on top of the $17 billion it has already taken.

At the press event, Henderson explained in detail his understanding of what the administration expects GM to do to restructure its brand in the next 60 days. He said that GM doesn't have to go in a whole new direction, but can do an operational restructuring -- just more deeply and quickly than had been under way under Wagoner.

He added that GM doesn't need the 60 days allotted by the Obama administration.

"More time is not going to help the process," he said, adding that he will try to complete the restructuring, hopefully outside of bankruptcy court. However, if GM is not successful in that endeavor, Henderson left open the possibility of having to go into a Chapter 11 declaration.