automotive

GM CEO Talks Strategy To Investors

General Motors CEO Mary Barra laid out plans for investors Wednesday, saying the automaker has big plans to focus overseas, grow its connected-technology line and give Cadillac a leg up.

In September in the U.S. the automaker sold 223,437 vehicles -- a 19% increase compared with September 2013. Looking at retail alone and ignoring fleet sales (which automakers would love to do), sales were up 17%. The company's fleet sales, such as they are, were up 30% with commercial sales up 11%.

At Wednesday's event at the automaker's proving grounds in Milford, Mich., Barra said that by 2015, over a quarter of GM’s global sales will come from products that are new or refreshed within 18 months, and she expects that figure to reach 38% in fiscal 2016, and 47% in 2019.1

Barra indicated the company will go full throttle on 4G LTE connectivity, saying GM will field the world’s largest automotive deployment of in-car high-speed mobile broadband in 2016, then vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity in the 2017 Cadillac CTS. And that will be followed by next-gen Super Cruise technology, touted as the next step toward autonomous driving.

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The other major plan involves Cadillac, which ostensibly will operate separately from GM -- a stratagem presaged by last week's announcement that the division's administrative team is moving to New York from Detroit. Barra reiterated Cadillac's plan to launch four new U.S.-market vehicles next year starting with the much-needed replacement for the STS, the CT6 luxury flagship. Also, per Barra, Cadillac will roll out nine new models in the next five years in China, on track to be the leading luxury-car market worldwide. 

The Detroit automaker will spend $14 billion over the next five years for five new plants to help fill volume quotas for what it expects to be "just under" 5 million sales of GM vehicles annually. In that period, she said, GM will launch 60 new or refreshed products, including nine new SUVs as well as the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Astra in Europe, and the Chevrolet Cruze and Malibu in North America. 

Kurt McNeil, U.S. VP of sales, said in a separate statement that heavy-duty pickups and large SUVs will enter the pipeline in coming months, as will the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks.

"This sets us up to finish the year on a very strong note,” he says.

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