GM CEO Mary Barra Brushes Off Merger Talks
DETROIT – General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the automaker has a comprehensive plan in place through the early part of the next decade, and a merger with a large, competing automaker does not appear to be part of that, reported MLive.
Speaking in a conference call Thursday morning to discuss the Detroit company's first quarter financial results, Barra was asked about Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's remarks on the possibility of merging with a large automaker, such as GM or Ford Motor Co., and about general chatter on the need for consolidation in the industry.
Barra said the plan GM currently has in place includes "plenty of areas for efficiency," and that the company is already one of the top-tier, global OEMs. The company's plan includes several milestones to ensure it remains at the top.
"We're not going to entertain anything that's going to distract us from accomplishing that," Barra said.
Marchionne, who led Italian automaker Fiat SpA's merger with Chrysler Group, said in March during an interview with Bloomberg News in Geneva that he would be open to combining the company with one if its larger Detroit rivals.
He called a combination with GM or Ford "technically feasible," and said there's always banter to that effect, but added that there is still "nothing substantive."
At that time, both Ford and GM generally balked at the notion.
General Motors on Thursday reported net income of $945 million for the first quarter of 2015. That compares to net income of $108 million for the Detroit automaker in the comparable period one year ago.
The result came on revenues that dipped to $35.7 billion from $37.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Ford plans to report its first quarter results April 28, and FCA is set to do the same on April 29.
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