The case for GM's Mary Barra as one of the greatest automotive CEOs

USA Today

a day ago

General Motors' bold agreement to jointly develop five vehicles with Hyundai-Kia solidifies CEO Mary Barra's status as a transformative leader of a company that long seemed adrift.
The deal encompasses gasoline, hybrid and electric power trains, deepening the giant automakers' alliance. They expect the vehicles' sales to top 800,000 a year.
The vehicles include:
The plan leverages each company's strengths. GM will lead development of the midsize pickup platform. Hyundai takes point on the others.
The van will be built in the United States as soon as 2028. The other vehicles go on sale in 2028. Expect production in South America.
An automaker that pivots
News that GM will extend production of the Cadillac XT5 luxury SUV in Spring Hill, Tennessee — with updates to keep it relevant in an intensely competitive segment — is consistent with a hallmark of Barra's tenure.
Barra has instilled adaptability in place of a corporate culture that seemed frozen in the headlights of change.
Managing change
Thus far, GM has managed the transition to electric power better than any mass manufacturer — with the possible exception of its seemingly unflappable partners at Hyundai-Kia.
GM has introduced a broad range of appealing EVs — Cadillac Optiq, Vistiq, Lyriq and Escalade IQ; electric versions of the Chevrolet Equinox, Blazer, Silverado; premium EVs at GMC — while continuing to roll out first-rate internal combustion models. That bank shot has kept GM's core moneymaking vehicles fresh and competitive and allowed it to react to changing regulatory and market conditions.
With a new generation of full-size pickups and SUVs around the corner, GM's prospects should get brighter over the next four to five years.
Barra's leadership — and close collaboration with longtime professional partner, GM President Mark Reuss — has seen the automaker through upheavals ranging from a global pandemic to an administration undoing decades of trade, energy and environmental policy.
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Not every idea worked
There have been mistakes.
GM grievously underestimated the difficulty it would have building electric vehicle batteries at new U.S. plants.
It should have kept the popular, affordable Chevrolet Bolt EV in production at least another 18 months.
GM overestimated the adoption pace of electric pickups, but turned that miscalculation to its advantage, sidestepping tariffs by moving full-size pickup production to the plant where it had planned to build EV pickups.
Going all-in on EVs left GM with a lack of competitive hybrids. Playing catch-up now, the new ones coming in 18 months or so better be outstanding. Some will likely come from the repurposed Orion Assembly plant.
GM's decadelong, $10 billion autonomous-vehicle program continued after Ford and most others bailed out of self-driving cars.
Most worrisome, it's unclear whether GM can succeed long-term in China.
Despite those missteps, the trend line is positive. GM's leadership has been consistent in an era of upheaval. It invests ambitiously and largely well, developing a sensible and forward-looking range of vehicles and drivetrains.
How's the competition doing?
Other mass manufacturers have stumbled more.
Stocking GM's cupboard
Barra built a strong team. GM grew from a company that struggled to attract talent outside the Midwest to one with its pick from top organizations, and it gets raided for talent by the likes of Amazon and eBay.
Tellingly, Ford recently named former GM, Amazon and Alto Pharmacy executive Alicia Boler Davis to head its crucial Ford Pro unit.
It's time to acknowledge that Barra and Reuss form one of the best C-suite duos in automotive history. They labored together through years when poor planning and financial pressure kept GM from building the best vehicles its people could create.
Determined not to go back, they'll be a tough act to follow.
Contact Mark Phelan: [e-mail]. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber