General Motors Corp. today announced drastic changes in reaction to a collapse in U.S. vehicle sales and three years of losses.

The company will suspend its stock dividend, cut its salaried payroll by 20 percent and sell assets to try to raise at least $15 billion in the next 18 months, Bloomberg reported. The cuts will save GM $800 million and are part of an effort to reduce operating costs by $10 billion. Meanwhile, the company will raise $4 billion to $7 billion through asset sales and new bank loans.

These changes will give the company enough money to operate should the U.S. market fall to 14 million new cars and trucks annually over the next two years and oil prices stay in the $130 to $150 a barrel range.

“We are responding aggressively to the challenges of today’s U.S. auto market,” CEO Rick Wagoner said in a release. “We will continue to take the steps necessary to align our business structure with the lower vehicle sales volumes and shifts in sales mix.”

GM’s U.S. sales have declined 16 percent through June, compared with a 10 percent decrease industrywide.

The company already has cut its U.S. salaried work force by 12,000, leaving it with 32,000 employees, and plans to close four truck plants by 2010. The company reported the largest annual loss of its 100-year history in 2007 of $38.7 billion and has not posted a profit since 2004. Its stock is trading at 54-year lows.

Last week, Wagoner said GM is not headed into bankruptcy and does not plan to shed vehicle brands beyond a possible sale or shutdown of the Hummer line.