Ammann: From the point of view of the finance function within GM, what we’re really trying to do is be a partner to the business to make sure that we’re involved in helping drive better decisions, and become integrally involved in all aspects of the business, from the beginning of the supply chain to the end of the sales process and the customer support at the other end. Our role is to put the right information into the hands of the people who have to make the business decisions, to be partners at a very senior level with those people as they make those decisions, be at the decision-making table – and uphold the accountability for the performance under those decisions as we go forward.
So in this business – which is low margin, capital intensive and very competitive – the role of finance is crucial to the success of the company. To be successful, we have to turn data into information and information into insights, insights that allow better business decisions to be made. In order to do that effectively, we have to be fully integrated into all aspects of the business, and that’s really what we’re driving our finance function to do today.
MacDuffie: I understand that you, yourself, are a car guy, a certified test track driver and an owner of vintage Cadillac convertibles, among other cars. Talk to us for a moment about any new GM products in any part of the world that you’re personally excited about.
Ammann: We’re at a really interesting point in the development of the company today. We have a huge wall of new products coming, if you like, in the next year or two, both in the North American market here, but also all around the world – critical product launches, vehicles that have been developed over the last couple of years since the company emerged from its restructuring. And we’re entering a very rich part of our product cycle. The breadth of the portfolio is really what’s most impressive, from my perspective. We have our new entry in the luxury compact segment, the Cadillac ATS, coming in, taking on and beating the BMW 3-series, which has owned that segment for so long. We set a very simple mission for the organisation, which was to build a better car than the 3 series. We’ve gone ahead and done that.
We have a whole new full-sized truck portfolio coming over the next year or two here in North America. We are launching in Europe, at Opel, two critical new entries and new segments for us there, the Opel Mokka small compact SUV and the Adam city car – again, a new segment for us and a really great entry. We have new launches going on all around the world. Our business in China, Brazil, South America – we have essentially relaunched a brand-new portfolio of entries in those parts of the world as well. So we’re entering a very sweet spot in terms of our product cycle. We’re investing very heavily in our future. We have doubled our capital expenditure budget over the last couple of years, and it’s all about investing in the future, putting the right vehicles in the customers’ hands, offering the customer real value across an enormously broad portfolio all around the world.
MacDuffie: That’s obviously key, keeping new products in front of the consumer. As I heard you say at the conference this morning, “You can’t cost cut your way back to prosperity.”
Let me change tack here and ask you about the unique state of GM right now as a private enterprise with a large government stake. It’s an election year. You folks must feel under a bit of a political microscope. How do you manage amid all of that, probably often unwelcome, scrutiny?
Ammann: I think we’ve been more in the political dialogue than we might have wanted to be over the last several months. But we’re not letting that distract us from our core job, which is driving this business to long-term success. We’re focused on getting these vehicles launched and into the marketplace. We’re focused on making money. We’re focused on reinvesting in our future. And we’re not spending too much time worrying about the political silly season.
MacDuffie: Let me ask you about Europe. It’s been a recovery period for GM and for the North American industry here. Partly because of the period of suppressed sales that immediately followed the financial crisis, some of that demand is coming back. It’s enabled GM to post its best profits ever, in history, I understand. But Europe is obviously in a really tough economic position and Opel, part of GM, is really struggling.
Steve Girsky [vice chairman of General Motors] talked about this when he came to the Wharton Leadership Conference this summer. Opel has been losing money for 14 years. So in a terrible economic situation, what do you and the rest of the GM team think you will be able to do to turn around Opel when past generations of leaders have not been so successful?
