GM posts $891 million Q2 profit
There's still plenty of work to be done, but the industry heavyweight shows it's progressing on the right trackGeneral Motors' recovery from financial despair continues to gather steam as the car-making giant announced a profit of $1.04 billion for the second quarter of this year.
This figure stands in stark contrast to the $3.98 billion loss it posted for the same period last year.
Crucially, GM's North American operations are showing signs of getting back on track, as the US division lost just $46 million for the second quarter, compared with a whopping loss of $4.62 billion for Q2 of 2006.
It marks a significant turnaround as GM burned through $12.17 billion during 2005, prompting the company to instigate a drastic restructuring program that involved closing all or part of 12 factories and cutting 34,000 jobs.
GM's European division proved the star performer in the second quarter of 2007, posting its best result since the second quarter of 1996. GM Europe notched up a profit of $254 million for Q2, reversing a $46-million loss from a year ago.
GM also fared well in other regions, with the company's Latin America, Africa and Middle East unit experiencing "explosive" growth, according to a spokesman
The company's success in the Middle East was in no small part due to its Aussie Holden subsidiary, which exports left-hand-drive versions of the Commodore and Statesman (badged as the Chevrolet Lumina and Caprice respectively) to the region.
In 2006 Holden achieved its best-ever year of sales in the Middle East, exporting over 31,000 new cars to the region.
"Our heavy commitment to key growth markets around the world really paid off in strong growth and earnings," GM chief executive Rick Wagoner (pictured) said in a statement.
"It's true that our North America team has made huge improvements," Wagoner added. "But our current earnings clearly demonstrate we've got more to do."
GM may have lost its world's biggest car manufacturer status to Toyota in recent months, but industry analysts say the latest financial results show the carmaker is shaping as a leaner, more agile company than the lumbering behemoth it had become in 2005.
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