General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra has overcome many challenges in her 10 years as the leader of the more than 100-year-old automaker. When Mr. Barra took over as CEO, GM was still emerging from bankruptcy in 2009 and reeling from an ignition switch recall that killed more than 100 people.
Mr. Barra was tasked with completely changing GM's silo culture, changing the way the public viewed the company's cars, and restoring trust, which he ultimately did. In contrast to other automakers, which have scaled back their immediate plans to convert their car and truck lineups to all-electric vehicles in response to slowing consumer demand, she is back at it again, this time with GM shareholders. We are working.
Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi had the rare opportunity to sit down with Barra in the newly designed E-Ray Corvette at GM's technology campus in Michigan to woo investors. We asked Barra what he believes is the most important thing the company should focus on. Likewise, how she plans to make good on her bet to become the leader in electric and self-driving cars despite intense competition from Tesla (TLSA) and skepticism from shareholders.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Brian Vitagliano.
video transcript
Mary Barra: Our company has been around for over 100 years. So we need to demonstrate that we can achieve this fairly significant transformation. And, you know, we had some challenges last year that forced us to pause.
That's why this year is so important from an implementation perspective. And I believe we are on track to remove these vehicles. We had our challenges on the cruise, but we will have better cruises in the future.
And when you think about how this industry is changing from how vehicles drive to EV autonomous software and getting it right and proving it, when people see our products and our quality; I think that's a different story. . But you have to prove it.
