MILFORD, Mich. — Since February, the new management team at General Motors has been consumed by one agenda item: fixing millions of defective small cars that have killed at least 23 people and done untold damage to the automaker’s reputation.þþBut in recent weeks, the company has sought to move beyond its safety crisis, putting its chief, Mary T. Barra, in the limelight with a cover article in Time magazine and accepting a humanitarian award in New York.þþMs. Barra generally avoids taking center stage, but she appears committed to a concerted strategy to rehabilitate the automaker’s image and portray herself and her management team as a new breed of G.M. executives.þþOn Wednesday, she and her top aides continued that campaign, trying to shift the focus back to the nuts and bolts of running a global car company. They outlined their strategies in a daylong presentation to investors and analysts. The recalls were addressed only afterward, when reporters asked questions.þþLara GassAfter a G.M. Recall, a Fiery Crash and a PayoutSEPT. 25, 2014þDeaths Tied to G.M. Ignition Rise to 23, as Compensation Offers Go OutSEPT. 29, 2014þYet, even as G.M. has pushed its agenda beyond the dozens of recalls it has issued for defective vehicles, the company still faces several legal challenges and investigations related to faulty ignition switches that could cause vehicles to suddenly lose power and deactivate air bags.þþFederal prosecutors say privately they are pushing ahead with their criminal investigation, 45 state attorneys general are also conducting their own inquiry, and plaintiffs’ lawyers have won court orders for G.M. to turn over internal documents as they pursue their cases.þþBefore a packed room here at G.M.’s vehicle testing center, Ms. Barra herself acknowledged that the start of her tenure, which began in January, was not the one she had envisioned.þþ“This leadership team has been in place for nine months,” Ms. Barra said in her opening remarks. “It clearly has not been the nine months we planned for.”þþMs. Barra and her leadership team vowed to jump-start the company’s sluggish automotive operations and improve its financial results.þþIt was the type of ambitious strategy that Ms. Barra would most likely have laid out months ago, if G.M. had not been overwhelmed by the biggest safety crisis in its 106-year history.þþAn internal investigation completed in June found that some employees had known of the switch problems for a decade but did not take action that might have prevented a mounting toll of deaths and serious injuries.þþThe revelations spurred congressional hearings and a $35 million penalty by federal regulators for G.M.’s failure to report a safety defect in a timely manner.þþIn addition to the investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the state attorneys general are looking into G.M.’s actions, with officials from South Carolina and Ohio coordinating the investigative efforts, according to people briefed on the inquiry who were not authorized to comment publicly.þþPressure is also growing on other legal fronts. Lawyers for a Georgia woman killed in a Chevrolet Cobalt with a defective ignition switch are seeking to depose Ms. Barra and other top G.M. officials. And a federal judge in New York has ordered the company to turn over internal documents submitted to Congress to lawyers pursuing lawsuits in switch-related cases.þþAt the same time, claims continue to pour in to a compensation program run by the lawyer Kenneth R. Feinberg for victims in ignition-switch accidents.þþMr. Feinberg recently began making the first payments to victims and their family members. On Wednesday, his office said the total number of claims had now grown to 1,090, an increase of more than 200 in the last week.þþAt Wednesday’s business presentation, Ms. Barra said G.M. was cooperating with Justice Department investigators and giving Mr. Feinberg complete independence to evaluate accident claims and make payments to victims.þþShe stressed that G.M.’s new strategic goals were aimed at increasing consumer confidence in the company’s products and improving its financial performance.þþ“Our strategic plan is a pathway to earn customers for life and create significant shareholder value in the process,” Ms. Barra said.þþThe automaker has also taken other, more subtle steps to begin restoring its battered reputation, with Ms. Barra at the forefront of a public relations blitz.þþShe gave extensive access recently to Time magazine for a cover article applauding her efforts to overhaul G.M.’s corporate culture and make employees more accountable. She has also stepped up her schedule of public appearances, including a trip to New York last month to accept an award for social responsibility from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.þþOne communications expert said it might be premature for G.M. to move away from a safety scandal that was still unfolding.þþ“I don’t think there’s a button to be pushed and suddenly they’re back in everyone’s public trust,” said Marina Ein, president of a public relations firm that has represented troubled clients like the French economist Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.þþMs. Ein predicted that it would be a long process for G.M. to regain credibility, and would depend, for example, on how transparently it handled future safety problems.þþStill, Ms. Barra and her senior aides are eager to show that G.M. can execute a strategy that bolsters its core automotive business.þþThe company’s recent announcement that it will move the headquarters of its Cadillac luxury division to New York was both splashy and substantial. While it generated headlines and attention for the brand, the move was also a frank admission that Cadillac needs drastic changes to improve its sales and reputation.þþThe strategic plan unveiled on Wednesday also set targets designed to convince skeptical investors that G.M. is unafraid to set aggressive goals for itself.þþG.M. said it expected to earn pretax profit margins of 9 to 10 percent of its global sales by early next decade and to accelerate introductions of new models both in North America and international markets.þþThe company also plans to streamline its roster of product platforms that provide the basic underpinnings for many models.þþIts most ambitious goals are for its overseas operations. In Europe, the company said, it expected to halt years of losses and return to profitability by 2016. And in China, G.M. said it would invest $14 billion over the next five years, primarily to build five new plants and introduce 60 new or revamped vehicles.þþ
Source: NY Times
