Steve Girsky, like most other General Motors executives at last week’s Detroit motor show, was upbeat as he brought the group of European journalists clustered around the long table up to date on where GM is today and where he fits into the grand scheme of life post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
He said GM should be compared to the Volkswagen Group and not “our cross-town rival” Ford.
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“People compare us with Ford because we are both American, but it’s the wrong comparison to make,” he said.
Volkswagen shares platforms and components across several brands and that’s what GM needs to do better. “Ford can go to market with one message, but we have brands from Cadillac to Chevrolet.”
At the moment, GM brands globally share between 15 and 20% of components; the target is to raise that to 50-60% over the next four years which would get GM closer to where VW is.
“We’re in business to satisfy customers and make money. VW does a great job of putting VW parts in an Audi and charging a premium for it.”
The Buick Verano, unveiled at the show, is Astra-based [and also shares the platform with the Chevy Cruze] while Buick’s Regal is Insignia-based. We can expect to see much more of that.
But before going on to talk about the future, Girsky provided a glimpse of the recent, turbulent past.
Girsky was a former automotive analyst with Morgan Stanley and an adviser to former GM CEO Rick Wagoner in 2005 and 2006. He was then an adviser to the labour unions during the lead-up to GM’s decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“I had a great seat at a bad movie,” he said of the moment he told the unions that “GM was going bust.”
Bankruptcy, he said, “forced transparency on us; the unions know there is no monkey business here.” And he wants the unions to play a greater role in the company. “If we get bonuses, the unions should; we’re all in the same team and on the same page.”
His job now is to “worry about how things will be three to five years from now” leaving Nick Reilly, president of GM Europe and Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, to worry about years one and two.
Today, the new, slimmed down GM is “moving much faster” than it did. “We just bought a finance company in 30 days instead of agonising over it for months,” he said to illustrate the point.
“We’ll make mistakes, but I’d rather make mistakes by moving too fast than too slow.”
He also pointed out that part of the success of the slimmer GM is that the company now makes money on a greater percentage of the cars it sells than it used to, adding that using incentives to boost sales was something the old GM did but the new one won’t do.
Toyota did it to fix its brand and galvanise its customer base after its recall problems, but don’t expect GM or any of its brands including Opel and Vauxhall to do the same, he said, acknowledging that “Opel needs to rebuild its brand but Vauxhall is in better shape.”
Which briought the conversation neatly round to Europe. “We made the decision to keep GM Europe, now we have to fix it. There’s too much capacity and our focus is on cost. But if we’re going to fix Europe, the industry has to come to grips with over-capacity, not just us. Either volumes come down or demand goes up.”
He believes that Europe can be fixed. “We build good cars in Europe and win awards but we need customers. Vauxhall and Opel are not damaged – both have rich histories and can be rejuvenated,” he said.
That rejuvenation will be helped in part by the arrival at the end of this year of the headline-grabbing Chevrolet Volt as the Vauxhall Ampera.
“My wife has been driving a Volt in New York for two months and is averaging 92mpg and, although she won’t like me saying this, she’s quite an aggressive driver.
“I was a Volt sceptic at first but when you drive it, there’s a wow moment when the generator engine kicks in. I think sales could surprise us more in Europe than in the US.”
GM will use its range-extending technology in a number of other models and is also working on all-electric cars. “There will be a need for an all-electric car in some countries as a pure city commuter car,” said Girsky.
The man:
Steve Girsky was named GM vice chairman, corporate strategy and business development from 1 March, 2010. He has overall responsibility for corporate strategy, business alliances, new business development and other related areas. He has also been a board member since 10 July, 2009. He also briefly served as senior advisor to the office of the chairman before he was named vice chairman.
Girsky previously was president of SJ Girsky & Co, an independent advisory firm based in New York, where he applied over 20 years’ experience working with senior corporate and board executives, labour leaders, OEM leaders, suppliers and dealers, national and local policy makers. He was also lead director of auto supplier Dana Holdings.
Girsky’s 25 years of automotive experience also includes time as managing director of Morgan Stanley and senior analyst of that firm’s global automotive and auto parts research team.
GM labour relations improve – Girsky
