After a huge safety crisis and a revolt by disgruntled investors, General Motors (GM) is eager to turn its attention back to cars and trucks.
GM, the US' biggest automaker, is blanketing this week's New York auto show with new products that it hopes will help improve its stagnant market share in the US.
The show offers GM another opportunity to move past its record number of vehicle recalls in 2014 as well as a challenge this year from a shareholder group for a stock buyback programme.
"It's a big show for us," said Daniel Ammann, GM's president, who will begin the show's media previews with a keynote speech on Wednesday.
Ammann is not expected to face the barrage of questions that GM's chief executive, Mary T Barra, was hit with at last year's New York show, which came after her testimony at two congressional hearings about a deadly defect in millions of the company's small cars.
Instead, he will be presenting GM's plans to beef up its product lineup with a new full-size Cadillac sedan and a revamped version of the company's top-selling passenger car, the Chevrolet Malibu.
"We think we're really going to surprise people with what we have coming at Cadillac and Chevrolet," Ammann said in an interview.
He said that GM did well to maintain its US market share at slightly under 18 per cent last year, despite recalling about 30 million vehicles, including those with defective ignitions now linked to 77 deaths. "We were able to hold our market share in a pretty adverse environment," he said.
With a blitz of new models on the way, the company is optimistic that it can keep pace or outperform the overall market. Last year, GM's sales in the US rose 5 per cent, compared with 8 per cent for the entire industry.
"You gain market share if you do all the right things for the customers," Ammann said.
The recall crisis was costly for GM, both in terms of the $3 billion it spent fixing cars and compensating accident victims and in the amount of time that its senior executives spent addressing safety problems. The automaker had to constantly reassure consumers about its commitment to vehicle quality - even as it was announcing new safety recalls.
Company officials maintained that product programmes were not affected by the recalls. But several top executives left the company after the recalls began, and GM made widespread changes in its engineering department in a broad effort to improve safety procedures.
One industry analyst said that when the safety crisis hit, General Motors was just beginning to recover from its bankruptcy and $49-billion government bailout in 2009.
"It wasn't that long ago that GM was just trying to keep itself from going out of business," said Karl Brauer, an analyst with the automobile research firm Kelley Blue Book. "Now they are trying to send a message that this is a stable, growing company."
The automaker defused a major distraction last month when it announced a $5-billion stock buyback programme. The move was set off by a potential proxy fight by a group of hedge funds dissatisfied with GM's stock price.
"This company and this leadership team have been through quite a bit," Brauer said. "Now is the time for them to show their capabilities on the product side."
The new Malibu is critical to GM's growth plans. Sales fell 6 per cent in 2014 from the previous year as the car slipped further behind the leaders in the midsize sedan segment, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord.
Besides updating the car's design, GM will add a hybrid gas-electric version of the Malibu. Still, the competition in the midsize segment will get tougher with the introduction at the New York show of a new Nissan Maxima and a revamped Kia Optima.
The automaker is also introducing the much-anticipated Cadillac CT6, a full-size sedan that features the company's most advanced assisted-driving technology, as well as a new twin-turbo engine.
The car is the latest attempt by GM to compete with luxury leaders like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Toyota's Lexus division. It is also Cadillac's first new model since GM announced it was moving the division to New York from Detroit in an effort to spice up its image and marketing.
"The CT6 will be closely watched as Cadillac struggles to connect with modern luxury buyers," said Stephanie Brinley, an analyst with research firm IHS Automotive.
And like Ford Motor's new Lincoln Continental, the CT6 is critical to GM plans to increase the Cadillac brand in international markets. "It will be most important to Cadillac's aspirations in China," Brinley said.
Besides the Malibu and CT6, GM will unveil new versions of its Chevrolet Spark subcompact and GMC Terrain sport utility vehicle.
"There's a lot of untapped potential at GM, especially in passenger cars," said Brauer, the Kelley Blue Book analyst. "But they need to hit the mark with consumers, particularly in the most competitive segments like midsize sedans."
© 2015 The New York Times News Service
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