GM bankruptcy seen as all but inevitable

* GM court restructuring now seen as all but inevitable

* Bankruptcy process seen longer than for Chrysler

* GM stock, bonds close to pricing in certain default

By Soyoung Kim and David Bailey

DETROIT, May 18 (Reuters) - After 100 years in business and 10 months of frenzied but failed restructuring, General Motors Corp GM.N is weeks from the bankruptcy filing experts say will be required to complete the Obama administration's bid to reshape a fallen icon of American industry.

Facing a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure, GM is scrambling to slash some $27 billion of bond debt, win sweeping cost concessions from the United Auto Workers union and eliminate almost 1,600 U.S. dealers.

But with the clock ticking, experts see it as all but certain GM will follow its smaller rival Chrysler into federal bankruptcy court.

"I almost think it is inevitable," independent auto industry analyst Erich Merkle said. "I don't know how they are going to escape it."

The battery of problems to have hit GM range from plunging sales and declining share to a line-up that has seen more misses than hits over the past decade and that trails engineering leaders like Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Honda Motor Co (7267.T) in hybrid technology.