DETROIT - With the buzzards circling around , Chairman and Chief Executive G. has yet another challenge on his hands: Trying to reassure worried employees that the No. 1 U.S. automaker isn't on the verge of bankruptcy.

"We're going through a rough patch of road these days," Wagoner conceded in a memo sent to GM's 325,000 employees on Wednesday. But speculation of a GM bankruptcy is "just plain wrong," he wrote.

"I'd like to just set the record straight here and now: There is absolutely no plan, strategy or intention for GM to file for bankruptcy," Wagoner wrote. GM has a strong balance sheet, he said, including $19 billion in cash and another $16 billion in a trust fund for retiree health care.

A strong message, to be sure. But that cushion could vanish quickly if GM can't muster a turnaround soon. GM has lost $6 billion in North America so far this year, and has been burning through cash at a rate of about $5 billion per year.

Worse, its largest supplier, (nyse: DPH - news - people ), is in bankruptcy and seems headed for a showdown with the United Auto Workers union over its plan to drastically slash labor costs. If the union strikes even a few key supplier factories at Delphi, GM production could be shut down entirely. Analysts predict that, should a Delphi strike drag on, GM would burn through that $19 billion cash pile in a matter of ten to 12 weeks.

But if he's worried about that possibility, Wagoner made no mention of it in his note to employees. "The large losses at GM North America are unsustainable, for sure, and require a comprehensive strategy to address them," Wagoner said. His four-part plan: exciting new products, revitalized sales and marketing, cost reductions and quality improvements, and reductions in GM's health care cost burden.

Last week, UAW members ratified a historic change in GM's health insurance policy that the company says will slash its health care liability by $15 billion, or 25%, and save $1 billion in cash per year. But GM won't feel the benefits until 2008 at the earliest: The company agreed to stash the savings in a new trust fund for employees to offset the impact of reduced coverage.

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