New General Motors chief executive, Mary Barra, has said she has no plans to deviate from predecessor Dan Akerson’s strategy as GM seeks profitability everywhere it operates.
“There is no right or left turn,” Reuters quoted Barra, who took over from Akerson last week, as saying.
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“If I had to say it in one word, it’s ‘accelerate,'” Barra said, when asked what changes could be made.
The report noted that Akerson took GM through an initial public offering, and saw record profits and leading sales positions in China and the United States, the world’s top car markets, during his tenure of just over three years. On Akerson’s last full day at the help, GM said it would pay the first quarterly dividend of its common stock since June 2008.
Barra reportedly vowed to maintain a “fortress balance sheet,” which has been a mantra among executives at GM since 2010, the year after the company emerged from bankruptcy.
The appointment of Dan Ammann as president will allow a greater focus in each of the world’s regions and speed up GM’s plan to boost profit globally, Barra said.
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By GlobalDataReuters noted that GM had said last week its expected modest growth in the US and China would help fund about $1.1bn in restructuring costs in its weaker regions, including Europe. It also said it expects a slight rise in operating profit this year, an outlook that analysts called conservative.
GM in 2013 was the second largest global automaker by sales, behind Toyota and just ahead of Volkswagen.
