New York  - General Motors said Monday its most recent buyout offer failed to attract enough interest and that forced layoffs could be an option.

GM hopes to reduce its workforce to 40,500 by the end of the year. Its latest round of buyouts that ended Saturday attracted 6,000 workers, leaving the largest US automaker with 48,000 shift workers - about 7,500 more than it needs.

The carmaker said it would offer no more buyouts and would work with the United Auto Workers union on how to reduce the workforce. A company spokeswoman said layoffs would be part of that deal, but that the plan could also include shifting workers to different plants.

Since 2006, 66,000 workers have agreed to buyouts from the automaker.

GM last month was given a new lease on life, exiting a 40-day bankruptcy process under a deal that transferred its best assets to a new company majority-owned by the US Treasury. The sale cleared GM to leave bankruptcy after becoming the largest US industrial firm ever to seek protection from its creditors.

GM has closed dozens of factories and thousands of dealerships and sold off many of its brands, including Saturn and Opel. (dpa)