GM to Restructure Vehicle Design Process

General Motors Corp. is expected to announce as early as next week that it will radically restructure its vehicle design process, cutting as many as 400 jobs and trimming its notorious bureaucracy to speed up the development of new cars and trucks.

Former Chrysler executive Bob Lutz, hired in August to add zip to GM’s lineup, will scrap the GM process that he says took him months to understand in favor of a system that closely resembles Chrysler, sources familiar with the plans said.