G.M. Chief Expects to Regain Market Share

G.M., the nation’s biggest automaker, posted its lowest United States market share in decades, searched for answers to its longstanding troubles in Europe and struggled to overcome the lingering, politically charged stigma of being “Government Motors.”

On Wednesday, G.M.’s chief executive, Daniel Akerson, acknowledged that the company still had a long way to go before it completed its turnaround. But he said that a host of promising new products should help it gain traction this year.

“This is going to be a strong year for product introductions, not only in North America, but around the globe,” Mr. Akerson said in a briefing with reporters at G.M.’s headquarters. “In 2013 and ’14, the sun will be at our backs.”

In 2012, the company’s share of the United States market sank to 17.9 percent, down from 19.6 percent the year before. It was the company’s lowest market share in more than 50 years.

And while the overall American market grew 13.4 percent last year, G.M.’s sales increased just 3.7 percent. By contrast, Toyota and Honda rebounded sharply from supply disruptions caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and rivals like Chrysler and Volkswagen made big sales gains.

“It was a very mediocre year for G.M.,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at the research firm IHS Automotive. “They are still kind of finding their way postbankruptcy.”

Mr. Akerson, 64, said he expected G.M. to make “modest” market-share improvements this year, as it refreshes its showrooms with 13 new products, including redesigned versions of its Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks.

“What you’ll see is a G.M. that is projecting some confidence and some vigor,” he said.

That description has hardly applied to G.M. since it was forced into bankruptcy in 2009 by the Obama administration as a condition for the final portions of its $49.5 billion government bailout.

The company emerged as a smaller, leaner competitor with fewer brands, employees and factories, and a revamped management team led by Mr. Akerson, a government-appointed board member who took over as chief executive in the fall of 2010.

Since its bankruptcy, G.M. has had some success introducing new cars in the United States, like the Chevrolet Cruze and the Cadillac ATS. It has also continued to grow in China.

In addition, the company has reduced its pension overhang by buying out some salaried workers and transferring its long-term obligations to the rest of the white-collar work force to an outside insurance firm.

G.M. also received good news last month when the Treasury Department agreed to sell 200 million of the G.M. shares owned by taxpayers back to the company and pledged to sell its remaining 300 million shares by early 2014.

“I think it’s important for that chapter to close on that part of our history,” Mr. Akerson said.

G.M. is expected to report healthy earnings this month for the fourth quarter of 2012, which would be its 12th straight profitable quarter. But it is still losing considerable money in Europe, where the economic downturn has depressed vehicle sales for several automakers.

The company has forecast that its 2012 losses in Europe will be at least $1.5 billion. Mr. Akerson said he hoped the losses could be trimmed by one-third this year, but reiterated that G.M.’s European operations would not break even until mid-decade.

He said there were no new plans for job cuts or factory closings on the Continent although the company planned to continue whittling down costs there. “We are taking out cost structure intelligently, more with a scalpel than a knife,” he said.

Mr. Akerson said that the company’s finances had improved and that he hoped it would be able to shed its junk credit rating this year and return to an investment-grade rating, which would allow it to reduce its borrowing costs.

But he was circumspect when discussing his own future. A former executive with the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, he declined to put a timetable on his tenure as G.M.’s chief.

“I think I will be here next year at this time,” he said. “But I don’t know how long that will run.”

In the short term, Mr. Akerson said he hoped G.M. could generate excitement for its new products next week at the industry’s big annual trade show in Detroit.

The company is set to unveil a coming redesign of its Corvette sports car, as well as a Cadillac version of its Volt plug-in hybrid. Consumers will also get their first look at the new pickups, which are scheduled to have their debut later this year.

The auto show spotlight could become a turning point in the public’s perception of G.M., said Ms. Lindland of IHS.

“The reality is that this company still has many challenges ahead,” she said. “It’s not the behemoth it once was, but they’re still not quite nimble yet.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/business/gm-chief-sees-improvement-in-market-share.html?partner=rss&emc=rss