Remarks by Mark Reuss
President, GM North America
To the Automotive News World Congress
Detroit, Michigan
January 12, 2010

 

·         Thanks, Keith Crane.

·         I want to talk this evening about what’s changed at GM – what makes us different from what we were a year ago.

·         Let me preface it by noting that, a year ago, I was far, far away – down under – running GM’s Holden division in Australia.

·         A year ago, I was quickly learning – like we all were – that nowhere and nothing in the global auto industry was safe from the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

·         A year ago, Australia’s proud automotive industry – like the U.S. industry, the German industry, the Japanese industry, and others – was teetering on the brink of collapse.

·         As head of the Australian auto industry’s trade association, I was in a unique position to work with the Australian government and other automakers to help fashion a plan that ultimately safeguarded the Australian industry.

·         We did it by working together – identifying areas where our interests overlapped, working toward solutions that benefitted individual companies, the broader industry, and society at large.

·         And what was true in Australia last year is certainly true around the world every day – the long-term health of our companies and our industry requires cooperation and coordination.

·         GM would not be here today without the extraordinary teamwork and cooperation last year from the government, unions, employees, retirees, dealers, and critical suppliers.

·         Everyone has sacrificed, and ultimately brought our industry together like never before.

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·         But of course, before our companies can work together – on issues like safety, emissions standards, electric vehicle integration, and so on – we must all be able to work apart… as vibrant, viable companies… and certainly that was a huge focus for many of us in 2009.

·         GM, of course, is a dramatically different company than we were a year ago.  And while we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be, we’re making rapid progress in building a new company from scratch.

·         Our core products are stronger than they’ve been in years.

·         We’ve transitioned from eight brands to four while largely maintaining our market share and volume.

·         We have a clean, substantially deleveraged balance sheet for the first time in more than a decade.

·         And we have a significantly improved cost structure.

·         Within the company, we’re simplifying the way we operate.  We’re re-focusing on fundamentals.

·         We’ve stripped the business down to the chassis, and now we’re re-building it into the company that we, and you, and our customers want and need us to be.

·         Our new vision for GM is simple: Design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles.  And everything we do, as individual employees and as a company, is being re-evaluated now on its ability to support this simple vision.

·         Fundamental excellence in product and service for the customer must be our overriding goal – and it is.

·         Now, there was a time when GM did a great job being all things to all people.  When we had a U.S. market share above 50 percent.  When we made refrigerators and locomotives and aircraft engines.  When we were the industry’s undisputed technology leader.  When the U.S. government was concerned that we were taking over, instead of going under.

·         Well, those days are gone.  Frankly, that company is gone.  Today, the core of our success will be satisfying our customers better than anyone else.  One by one, person by person.

·         How are we doing that?  Well, for the first time in a long time, we’re listening to our customers again.

·         The hard truth is that we haven’t always done a great job at this in recent years.  Today, we’re listening well.  Let me give you a few examples:

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·         Last September, we launched a new marketing program at GM, called “May the Best Car Win.”  Part of the program was a 60-day guarantee – if you weren’t completely satisfied with your car or truck, return it within 60 days for a full refund.

·         The great news is that only about 339 of the 439,000 eligible cars sold under that program – that’s less than one-tenth of one percent – have actually been returned.

·         Equally important, we’re working to contact as many of these unhappy customers as possible, to find out what they didn’t like about their GM car or truck.

·         We’ve never done that before.  I wish we had, because we’re learning a lot about what we can do better.  And I know, because I’ve made a lot of those calls myself.

·         Going forward, we’ll be doing a lot more of exactly this kind of listening – letting our customers tell us what we need to do to earn their business.

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·         Another example:  over the holiday break, I had the chance to work directly with several customers who needed some extra help.

·         One wanted to take delivery of a new GMC Terrain before the end of the year, and was having trouble getting the vehicle he wanted by the date he needed it.

·         A few emails later, I was able to help him get exactly the vehicle he wanted well ahead of his deadline.  And not only did he love his new crossover, he loved that someone took the time to ensure he got it when he needed it.

·         Another customer had a question about the headlight on his Suburban that his dealer couldn’t answer.  A few quick emails back and forth, and he was talking directly to one our engineers who works specifically on headlight assemblies.  Result: one very happy customer.

·         Another customer needed a new steering assembly that had been held up in the system way too long.  One of our engineers tracked down a new assembly, shipped it to the customer’s dealership, and the repair was made.

·         A fourth customer had an intermittent rattle that never presented itself when he took it to his dealer.  We’ve all experienced that situation, right?

·         Well, this customer was fed up, and ready to turn his car back in.  We sent an engineer to his house on New Year’s Eve.  Problem solved.  Customer for life.

·         This is the kind of service I’m talking about – person by person, customer by customer.

·         Now, these are my own examples, but this kind of focus is not just coming from me.  This is the kind of customer focus we’re building throughout GM these days – the kind of service I expect all of our employees to embrace whenever and wherever they can.

·         For example, last fall we launched a new internal web site called “How to Help a Customer.”  It pulls together a number of important links and resources that allow employees to quickly and efficiently help customers get answers to their questions.

·         It helps existing customers get support for their GM vehicles; it helps potential customers get the information they need when considering a Chevy, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac purchase.  It’s simple, easy-to-use… and it’s making a difference.

·         In fact, I’m pleased to announce that tomorrow, we’ll be launching a new “How to Help a Customer” mobile application for GM employees.

·         This app will allow GM smart phone users to help customers get answers to their questions anytime, anywhere.

·         It’s just one more tool – one more example – of how we’re working to make customers #1 again at General Motors.

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·         So what else has changed at GM?

·         Well, beyond our renewed focus on customer service, we’re also investing time, effort, and money in five fundamental areas here in North America:

o   Quality

o   Technology

o   Design

o   Brands

o   And people.

·         Let me take them one at a time.

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·         First, Quality – because nothing is more important for our customers or our reputation.

·         We’ve made a lot of progress in this area in recent years, but look no further than Consumer Reports to see that we still have work to do.

·         Unfortunately, we’ve given our customers reason to doubt that our quality is good enough – so we need to go beyond what other companies do.

·         Today, our quality can’t just match the competition – our quality has to blow away the competition, and that’s what I’m looking for from our North American organization.

·         Don’t misunderstand – I’m not calling for a new quality initiative.  All the quality processes we need are already in place.

·         Instead, I’m calling for a renewed commitment, an absolute commitment, to building quality into everything we do.

·         We can no longer tolerate a culture at GM that punishes people for identifying quality concerns.  We need a culture that encourages it, that celebrates it, that rewards it – and that’s what I’m after.

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·         Our second focus area is Technology – and there is no clearer example here than our work in advanced propulsion.

·         Launch of the new GM last summer provided us an unprecedented opportunity to re-energize our advanced propulsion strategy and drive the company toward a dramatically greener future.  Market introduction of the Chevrolet Volt later this year will be a huge step toward this greener future.

·         Another great example of technology that sets us apart is OnStar.  Introduction of our “mobile app” at the Consumer Electronics Show last week is an indication of great things to come in this space.

·         Both of these examples illustrate something we’re very consciously guarding against at GM right now – and that’s the temptation to scale back our technology investment while we’re still repaying government loans, and while the market is weak.  That would be a huge mistake.

·         Strategic investment in technologies that support our vision to design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles has never been more important.

·         That’s why we maintained our technology investment in recent years despite financial difficulties, and why we’ll continue to invest in it going forward.

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·         Our third focus area is Design.

·         I can’t say enough about the important work our design teams have done in recent years to elevate the importance of design in GM’s product development area.

·         To show for it, we have the Buick LaCrosse you see here tonight.

·         We have the Chevrolet Cruze and Camaro, Buick Enclave, GMC Terrain, Cadillac SRX, and many other great-looking cars, trucks, and crossovers.

·         We have the cars we’ve introduced this week at the Show – the all-new Chevy Aveo and Buick Regal, the GMC Granite and Cadillac XTS concepts, and others.

·         Design is an area where we have made great strides in recent years, and we’re going to guard our progress ruthlessly.

·         Going forward, we will further push the limits of automotive design, and we’ll do it by continuing to invest heavily in this critical area.

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·         Our fourth focus area is Brands – and we have a lot of work to do here.

·         Let me simply say this – we go to market with Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, and that’s where our sales and marketing focus will be.

·         Going forward, we’re going to work closely with our dealers, we’re going to continue defining and building our four North American brands, and we’re going to transform them into the powerhouses that we know and believe they can be.

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·         Our final focus area is People.

·         Inside the company, there’s been a lot of talk lately about “culture.”  Well, in my mind, much of what passes for “culture” is really just a function of how people behave.

·         What kind of culture do I want for GM North America?  Simple – I want a winning culture.  I want a culture that achieves results, that delivers on its promises, that finds a way to win no matter what.

·         That’s why we’re focused these days on giving employees more responsibility and authority to change the way we do business, to take chances, to push the company to try new things.

·         And along with that authority comes accountability – setting tough goals and standards, then taking responsibility for your performance.

·         Outside the company, we’re focusing on our partners – working to re-create positive, lasting relations with our suppliers, dealers, unions, customers and others.

·         Take our suppliers as an example.  In today’s industry, OEMs rely more heavily than ever on suppliers to help develop the cars and trucks that people want to buy.

·         At GM, when we see a great idea, we want to implement it right away.  By leveraging our suppliers’ resources with our own, we can do this better and faster than we otherwise could.

·         To our suppliers in the audience tonight, we thank you for your great support in this area – and we look forward to working more closely with you in the days to come.

·         We’re also very focused on our dealers these days.

·         The real interface with our customers is at our dealerships.  If this is not a terrific experience, it does not matter how good our products are – our customers will not come back.

·         We know this, our dealers know this – now we need to do a better job working together to ensure that we’re satisfying our customers better than anyone else.  That’s where this business is won or lost, and that’s where we plan to win.

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·         So, that’s it.  Customer service, first and foremost… coupled with a renewed focus on five fundamental areas: quality, technology, design, brands, and people.

·         It’s not hard.  In fact, it’s very simple.

·         GM is, once again, an honest-to-goodness car company – and our success comes down to achieving one overriding goal – providing fundamental excellence in product and service for the customer.

·         Can we do it?  Let me tell you a story.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

·         Over the holidays, I drove my son to what used to be Buick City in Flint.

·         My son won’t ever see where I started work.

·         My son won’t ever see where his grandfather ran Buick.

·         All that is left of Buick City are some rusty overhead conveyors that used to ship bodies to marriage.  It is an eerie reminder of how the U.S. manufacturing base has changed.

·         My son asked me: “Why did this happen, Dad?”  I sat silent on Hamilton Street.

·         Was it because unions and management could not work together?  Maybe.

·         Was it because we made cars that people no longer wanted?  Maybe.

·         I finally turned to my son and said: “This happened because we could not compete.”

·         I never thought those words would come from my mouth.

·         This job is spiritual for me – as an employee, an American, and an engineer!

·         But today, GM can and will compete!

·         We have the opportunity of a lifetime, and we have the will to win!

·         The chains are broken.  We are free!

·         Let’s create a new future together – employees, dealers, suppliers, and investors.

·         Thank you.  I look forward to your questions.

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