Mary Barra, Chief Executive Officer of General Motors has been in India over the past two days, meeting people and discussing the future of the company here.
One part of the story is that GM has been around in India for nearly two decades but does not have the market share to reflect this longevity. Two, it has been in the news for recall issues which have generated a fair share of controversy both here and abroad.
The company had recently recalled 1.14 lakh units of its multipurpose vehicle Chevrolet Tavera manufactured in India between 2005 and 2013. This was on emission-related issues where there were allegations on fudging data.
However, Barra did not dwell on these issues. “The past is the past. We are focused on the future and we have a clear strategy to have the right products to put the customer in the centre, to make sure we are a leader in safety and quality,” she told reporters here on Thursday.
Yet, when asked what really went wrong, Barra was quick to reply that “There are a lot of things, which are right. We have manufacturing capabilities in the country from the powertrain and assembly perspective and we have the right leaderships here. We have been successful in many places so we know the ingredients, and that is why we are here,” she added.
According to Barra, GM had dealt with those (recalls) in a straightforward manner by being transparent, doing what was right for the customers and making sure from the learning that something like that never happens again. This issue had, in fact, taken up a lot of her time soon after she became CEO with over 2.5 million worldwide recalls arising from faulty ignition switches.
“We continue to look at issues but our goal even fundamentally is to make sure we are improving in our development process for new vehicles. We also make sure we build defect-free vehicles as we move into the future. But, if at any point along the way we see an issue with the product portfolio, we are going to take appropriate action,” Barra said.
The company was focused on five key strategic priorities which included earning customers for life, knowing the importance of brands and making sure GM grew these brands, being the leader in technology and innovation, driving efficiencies across the business and instilling a culture to win.
From Barra’s point of view, another important reason to be in India this week was to get to spend time with the GM team. It would also give her time to see their passion and knowledge of the customer and relationship with dealers.
She said GM would launch 40 products for the global market (excluding the US, Europe and China but including India) in the future. “In Europe, we will launch 27 new Opel models between this year and 2018. In the US, from 2013-14, we have launched 32 new vehicles. In
China with our partners, we will introduce new or upgraded 17 models this year and in the international operations including India, we have about 40 new products,” she added.
In India, about 75 per cent of GM’s sales are from either new or majorly redesigned products. “As we bring new products, we will really focus on what is important for this market, what is going to create value and be valued by customers,” Barra declared.