WATERLOO - General Motors' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Monday represented a "new beginning" for the iconic industrial giant, according to its chairman.

But for business sectors in Iowa that are directly and indirectly affected by the move, the situation remains as cloudy today as it was before Monday's filing.

Dealers and parts suppliers, for example, still don't know how a bankrupt GM will affect their businesses, said Elliott Smith, executive director of the Iowa Business Council in Des Moines.

"I think it remains to be seen how things play out," Smith said. "There might be a little ripple with the supply chain, especially with small and mid-sized suppliers. Fortunately, in Iowa, I don't think that's a deep business area. There are certainly some companies that will be impacted, but the fact that we've been able to diversify over the last couple of decades is going to help us survive that particular issue."

GM's Chapter 11 is the fourth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. GM listed $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.

The filing follows Chrysler filing for Chapter 11 protection in late April.

During GM's reorganization, which the company says will take 60-90 days, it will receive $30 billion of additional financial assistance from the Treasury Department and $9.5 billion from the Canadian government, in addition to about $20 billion in taxpayer money GM already has received in the form of low-interest loans.

The move will not affect GM's warranty coverage, service and customer support, the company said, adding that it will continue to build vehicles and pay workers and suppliers.

But GM does plan to cut about 34 percent of its work force, jettison about 2,600 dealers and shut down more plants.

GMAC Financial Services said it will continue to finance vehicle purchases at GM and Chrysler dealerships.

For the moment, Iowa GM dealers would continue to operate as usual, said Gary Thomas, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association.

"I don't really think it does affect them, at least not yet," he said. "What's going on today is the authority to keep GM going."

What does change is the protection franchise laws provided dealers.

"It's a game-changer, much similar to what happened with Chrysler," Thomas said. "Once they take federal bankruptcy, all bets are off with the Iowa franchise laws as it protects dealers."

But franchise law resume their precedence, once GM emerges from bankruptcy protection, Thomas said.

"Then, all bets are back on," he said.

GM's plan is to come out of bankruptcy as a leaner company that can compete with a smaller work force, fewer plants and fewer dealerships. The company said Monday it was closing nine plants and idling three others.

"Who knows about the dealers?" said Ron Seeber, a former unionized John Deere worker in Waterloo and now a professor and associate dean of Cornell Institute for Industrial Relations.. "All you've got to do is look at the networks and contracts that Toyota has with its network of dealers. It's clear that there are too many of them to survive with GM, Chrysler and, in the end, Ford."