9:30am -- waiting on the call to start. Here is a link to GM's Q2 financials that were just released. Here are some highlights:
-- Record automotive revenue of $45.9 billion
-- Reported net income of $891 million, adjusted net income of $1.4 billion
-- Adjusted automotive operating cash flow of $1.1 billion
-- Improved liquidity position of $27.2 billion

9:32am -- GM's global sales volume surpassed 2.4 million units in the second quarter, up marginally from the same quarter a year ago. GM's global automotive net income from continuing operations totaled $764 million on an adjusted basis in the second quarter of 2007 (reported net income of $618 million).

9:34am -- GM reported net income of $1.56 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2007, an improvement of $4.3 billion compared with a reported net loss of $3.4 billion, or $5.98 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

9:36am -- looks like European sales were decent compared to GM's lackluster North American sales. Even with industry pressures in Germany (which is Europe's largest vehicle market), GM Europe set a quarterly sales record of 574,000 units, up five percent over the second quarter 2006.

9:39am -- GM Asia Pacific recorded adjusted net income of $237 million in the second quarter (reported net income of $227 million), which was a second-quarter net income record for the region, and compares with $164 million in the same quarter a year ago.

9:42am -- GM Latin America, Africa and Middle East saw very good regional growth and its traditionally strong position in the region. This segment of GM's sales posted its best quarterly net income in a decade with adjusted earnings of $213 million (reported net income also $213 million), compared to $155 million in the same quarter last year (reported net income of $139 million).

9:46am -- Fritz Henderson, GM's CFO, is going over many charts in fast fashion. Get the entire chart set with this PDF link if you want to see what he's glossing over.

9:49am -- Henderson is talking about net revenue per vehicle for GM North America (average now is over $21,375), which is up over the figure of $19,835 for the year-ago quarter.

9:53am -- Henderson is now discussing GMAC's performance. GMAC Financial Services reported net income of $293 million for the second quarter 2007, compared to $787 million in the second quarter 2006 which included a one-time gain on the sale of a regional homebuilder of $259 million. For the quarter, GM recognized $139 million in net income attributable to GMAC as a result of its 49% equity interest and more.

9:55am -- Financial performance at GMAC represents a $598 million improvement over the first quarter 2007, which was significantly affected by pressures in the U.S. subprime mortgage market. Heh -- anyone and everyone connected heavily with the disastrous subprime lending market has left that area for picking by vultures. No surprise there.

9:58am -- General Motors saw adjusted operating cash flow of $1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2007, up from $600 million in the year-ago quarter. The sale of the Allison Transmission business will further bolster GM's liquidity according the Henderson, as the sale will generate proceeds of approximately $5.6 billion when it closes this quarter sometime.

10:01am -- Henderson is going over GM's Q2 summary, which includes these items:
-- Share growth and strong revenue increases continue outside North America
-- Improved earnings and positive automotive operating cash flow
-- Automotive liquidity strengthened further to $27.2 billion
-- Delphi labor agreement reached
-- Continued focus on revenue and structural cost
-- Negotiations underway on UAW contract (no dates or figures available yet)

10:05am -- new product integrations are being discussed now (from all GM divisions) contrasted against the problems with the U.S. housing market depressing sales for GM North America (but not in other global sales regions for GM).

10:08am -- Henderson completes his very exhaustive quarterly review and opens the call up for analyst questions.

10:10am -- the analyst Q&A begins. first question: on Delphi -- how large are and the annual support payments to the former subsidiary, and how do they go up and down and on what schedule? Answer: $500 million per year for now, and that support is expected to go until at least 2010 for now. In other words, GM's is subsidizing Delphi until it can get back on its feet again.

10:13am -- second question: what liabilities is GM is absorbing in terms of a dollar number? Answer: GM has reclassified portions of these charges (like employee charges for Delphi). Through March 31st, GM has taken over $6 billion in charges related to Delphi, not including annual support that it will be giving each year for the near future.

10:15am -- next question: accrued expenses: how are incentives calculated for North America sales? Answer: public incentives as of June 30th are public now, and the 0% promo could affect the rest of the year if it is decided to be expanded for the rest of 2007.

10:17am -- next question: Q2 product mix was favorable. What is expected for Q3? Answer: more trucks are expected to be sold in Q3, although a normalizing product mix (more cars, which produce less profit) will be seen in Q3 compared to a "very favorable" product mix for Q2.

10:22am -- next question: what was the impact of cutting the daily rental volume in Q2? Answer: cutting the rental volume was not the goal, but ensuring retail volume product mix equilibrium is the goal. In other words, fleet and other retail volume mix shift is the driver here, not the state of the rental car business GM cannot contorl.

10:27am -- next question: was Daewoo (completely owned by GM now) really doing well in Q2 for GM? Answer: yes, Daewoo did very well in its product mix and profitability in Q2 in the South Korea market as well as the rest of the PacRim area -- as well as others.

10:31am -- next question: price vs. material costs: was the mix favorable or unfavorable? Answer: GM did not accrue for the existing price incentives in Q2, so GM had to move some strategy around based on several incentives (like the July 4th program in the quarter), and the Q2 period was very tough for all automakers.

10:35am -- that's it! The analyst Q&A portion of the conference call is completed. GM's profit in the Q2 period followed Ford's surprising profit (although Ford's was not due to increasing product sales). The automaker continues to pad Delphi with hundreds of millions a year and U.S. sales still are stagnant even in the face of very decent international sales in Europe and the Pacific Rim.