General Motors Corp. has reported an unexpected quarterly loss of $318 million versus income of $1.4 billion one year ago, despite strong sales and a jump in global market share.
The April to June performance refocused the need for GM to improve its cost structure in all major areas— costs, productivity, capacity utilization and health care costs, CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement.
The automakers global automotive operations reported a loss of $948 million offset by profitable results in Europe, Asia and the Latin American/Mid-East region. The company’s finance unit, General Motors Acceptance Corp., showed income of $816 million, down from $846 million one year ago. GM’s global market share rose to 15.2% in the second quarter, compared with 14.7% and worldwide deliveries were up more than 10 percent
The discount king is working hard to sell its vehicles. On June 1, it extended its employee incentive to the public, a much-discussed tactic that automakers Chrysler and Ford quickly followed. For GM, the program drove the purchase of 558,092 new cars and trucks in June, a 41% increase over the prior year and its best month since September 1986. That included a reported 382,601 trucks, which it said was an industry all-time record.
In a related development, GM has hired Stephen Girsky, Morgan Stanley’s top global automotive analysts, as an advisor to Wagoner and GM’s CFO, John Devine.
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