GM said a day earlier its Asia-Pacific operations were financially self-sufficient, needing no help from US headquarters, although financing difficulties remained in some countries such as South Korea and Thailand.

Easing some of those concerns, the head of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology said on Tuesday the South Korean unit expected to reach an agreement on financial support with state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), its biggest creditor, within the next two to three months.

GM Daewoo CEO Michael Grimaldi added the company planned to keep annual investment steady at around 1 trillion won ($811.5 million).

SUZUKI AT RISK, BUT TIES INTACT

Japanese small car maker Suzuki Motor Corp also stressed it would continue its relationship with GM, its former top shareholder which it relies on for help in developing hybrid, fuel-cell and other environmental technologies.

"I was relieved," CEO Osamu Suzuki told reporters, saying he had received the request to retain those ties directly from GM CEO Fritz Henderson by telephone on Monday.

Suzuki said, however, that it had exposure of around 72 billion yen ($746 million) to affiliates of GM -- more than half of that through a debt guarantee to the companies' Canadian joint venture plant, CAMI Automotive.

Suzuki will book loss reserves and revise earnings outlooks if needed, it said. Its shares were up 0.2 per cent at 2,115 yen in early afternoon trade, underperforming Tokyo's transport sector subindex, which rose 2.2 per cent.