Detroit ? Just three days after telling the U.S. government that it might dump its Swedish-based Saab brand, General Motors Corp. placed the struggling unit into reorganization Friday.

Crisis, it seems, has forced the U.S. auto behemoth to move faster than ever to shed unprofitable brands, leaving European governments to decide whether they’re worth saving.

GM also wants to shed the Hummer and Saturn brands as it tries to conserve cash and focus on Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC to make it through an unprecedented global auto sales slump that has pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.