Giant car manufacturer, General Motors reported a massive $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter and thus piling up problems in terms of sales of the company and the auto industry in general.

The loss nearly doubled the record deficit posted by Ford, last month, was the result of a variety of problems which includes labor unrest, the collapse of the light truck market, the slump in housing, record fuel prices and the overall slide in new vehicle sales. Moreover, it is considered as one of the biggest loss posted in the history of the industry.

It is reported that this big loss included $9.1 billion in one-time charges, which included $3.3 billion to buy out 19,000 U.S. workers. Another $1.3 billion was written off because of the declining value of the trucks held in the portfolio of General Motors Acceptance Corp., GM’s captive finance subsidiary – which it owns in partnership with the private equity fund, Cerberus Capital Management.

This results to bigger problems for GM, which slipped to number two in the global sales sweepstakes, behind Toyota, during the second quarter. Thus, the company was forced to announce a new restructuring plan, last month, which will lead to billions of dollars in cost-cutting. Among the targets include a reduction of 5,000 salaried jobs in the months to come.

This just goes to show the different problems the automotive industry is facing right now. It is not just GM that has this decline but also other auto companies. Autopartswarehouse hopes that there will be a change of pace in the coming quarters.