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| Remarks by Mark Reuss, President, GM North America, To the Automotive News World Congress | |||
| 13 Jan 2010
: Thanks, Keith Crane. I want to talk this evening about what’s changed at GM – what makes us different from what we were a year ago. Let me preface it by noting that, a year ago, I was far, far away – down under – running GM’s Holden division in Australia. A year ago, I was quickly learning – like we all were – that nowhere and nothing in the global auto industry was safe from the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression. A year ago, Australia’s proud automotive industry – like the U.S. industry, the German industry, the Japanese industry, and others – was teetering on the brink of collapse. As head of the Australian auto industry’s trade association, I was in a unique position to work with the Australian government and other automakers to help fashion a plan that ultimately safeguarded the Australian industry. We did it by working together – identifying areas where our interests overlapped, working toward solutions that benefitted individual companies, the broader industry, and society at large. And what was true in Australia last year is certainly true around the world every day – the long-term health of our companies and our industry requires cooperation and coordination. GM would not be here today without the extraordinary teamwork and cooperation last year from the government, unions, employees, retirees, dealers, and critical suppliers. Everyone has sacrificed, and ultimately brought our industry together like never before. But of course, before our companies can work together – on issues like safety, emissions standards, electric vehicle integration, and so on – we must all be able to work apart… as vibrant, viable companies… and certainly that was a huge focus for many of us in 2009. GM, of course, is a dramatically different company than we were a year ago. And while we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be, we’re making rapid progress in building a new company from scratch. Our core products are stronger than they’ve been in years. We’ve transitioned from eight brands to four while largely maintaining our market share and volume. We have a clean, substantially deleveraged balance sheet for the first time in more than a decade. And we have a significantly improved cost structure. Within the company, we’re simplifying the way we operate. We’re re-focusing on fundamentals. We’ve stripped the business down to the chassis, and now we’re re-building it into the company that we, and you, and our customers want and need us to be. Our new vision for GM is simple: Design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles. And everything we do, as individual employees and as a company, is being re-evaluated now on its ability to support this simple vision. Fundamental excellence in product and service for the customer must be our overriding goal – and it is. Now, there was a time when GM did a great job being all things to all people. When we had a U.S. market share above 50 percent. When we made refrigerators and locomotives and aircraft engines. When we were the industry’s undisputed technology leader. When the U.S. government was concerned that we were taking over, instead of going under. Well, those days are gone. Frankly, that company is gone. Today, the core of our success will be satisfying our customers better than anyone else. One by one, person by person. How are we doing that? Well, for the first time in a long time, we’re listening to our customers again. |
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