WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- General Motors Corp., the biggest automaker in the United States, said on Monday that it would eliminate 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close nine North American assembly lines.

    The announcement by Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the GM, meant that there would be 5,000 more job cuts than the 25,000 that the automaker previously said it planned to cut.

    GM said the plan was to achieve 7 billion dollars in cost reductions on a running rate basis by the end of 2006 -- 1 billion dollars above its previously indicated target. The number of job cuts was also above earlier estimates.

    The company said in last June that it planned to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008.

    General Motors Corp. reported earlier this month that its US sales fell by 22.7 percent in October from a year ago led by a 30.3 percent decline in sales of trucks and SUVs. Enditem