Newly minted GM CEO Fritz Henderson talked a lot about "The New GM" in his press conference today. And he dropped some revealing lines about what that phrase really means. For example: "I don't view size as leadership." That turns a century of corporate tradition on its head. GM's internal mindset has always been about size; about being the biggest, most powerful player in the automotive industry; about having more brands, more models, more dealers, more market share than anyone else.

 No more.

According to Henderson, the focus of The New GM is right-sizing the business as fast as possible. More dealers are to be axed, bringing the total GM dealer network down to about 3600 nationwide, more than 3000 dealers fewer than existed two years ago. Henderson says the company is aiming to stabilize market share at 18 to 18.5 percent market share -- ending the long, long slide from a peak of 54 percent in 1954 -- and to break even on an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) basis in a market of just 10 million units.

Henderson said reducing GM's line up to four core brands (Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac) and fewer nameplates means the company's product line up will be properly resourced and better focused. "The days of 15 [new model] launches, and counting on five or six of them being hits are gone." So, too, are the days of over-reliance on gas-guzzling full-size trucks and SUVs to drive profits: "We are assuming we'll see higher oil prices in the future. 2008 taught us economic growth will drive up oil prices."

GM, along with the other Detroit automakers, has traditionally pushed back on government mandated fuel economy targets. But the national 35.5 mpg average by 2016 announced by President Obama represents a "watershed" agreement, said Henderson, as GM no longer faces the cost and complexity of meeting additional standards mandated by states such as California under the guise of regulating CO2 emissions. "We have never missed a fuel efficiency guideline," claimed Henderson, "and we won't now."

Other key points from today's press conference:

• It is likely to be some time before the government will be able to reduce its shareholding in GM: "We all have an interest in creating a market for GM shares, but this is a question of years, not months."

• Bankruptcy was never the preferred option: "We thought we could deal with the operational side of the business outside bankruptcy. The tricky part was dealing with the capital structure.  What this does is permanently address problems that we were unable to address until today.

• China is critical to The New GM, but that doesn't mean GM will start wholesale import of Chinese-made cars: "Our business in China grows at a torrid pace. But one of our bedrock principles is we build where we sell."
  

•  The chief restructuring officer (turnaround specialist and Obama appointee Al Koch) will be tasked with winding down the "old" GM: "He won't have a role in running GM."

President Obama made the point this morning that the federal government has no interest in running GM, and no interest in telling GM what sort of vehicles it should build. The President was clear his administration's main goal in saving GM from liquidation was to prevent the massive economic fallout that would result from the catastrophic failure of a large portion of America's auto manufacturing sector. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"There are no second chances, and we won't need one," Henderson said in his closing remarks today. Wrong, and wrong. This is GM's second chance, and oh boy, was it needed. Henderson and his management team therefore need to remember just one simple mantra as they now race to turn The New GM -- smaller, leaner, more focused -- into a viable 21st century automaker: Don't blow it.