GM crisis 'catalyst for change', says chief

Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors, has promised to use the crisis over the company's delayed vehicle recall as "a catalyst for change" now that the carmaker is no longer fighting for survival.

In one of her first public appearances since the seriousness of the crisis became apparent last month, Ms Barra also said she wanted to change the carmaker's culture to increase its focus on customers.

Ms Barra was speaking at the JD Power automotive forum on the eve of the New York Auto Show, which is likely to be overshadowed by GM's recall of 2.6m vehicles because of faulty ignition switches.

GM suspected a problem with the ignition switches in compact cars including the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion as long ago as 2001 but failed to issue a general recall.

At least 12 people are thought to have died in crashes when the vehicles' ignition switches shifted from "run" to "accessory" while the vehicle was being driven. The shift cut the vehicles' engines and disabled the power steering and airbags.

Asked about the recall issue's effect on the company, where she took charge on January 15, Ms Barra said: "We'll use this as a catalyst for change."

She had said that the company had taken "many important and meaningful steps" to change its culture after the emergence of the recall issue.

"Our focus is no longer on survival," she said, referring to the period before GM's government-managed bankruptcy in 2009. "We're even more focused today on quality and doing what is right for the customer than at any time in my 33 years at GM."

Every interaction with a customer was part of building a long-term relationship, she said. "That's the mindset we're using to approach this issue."

Ms Barra announced at the forum that she was creating a global product integrity group within GM's product development arm that would look at all aspects of how vehicles handled.

Jeff Boyer, GM's new global head of product safety, whose job was created in response to the recall crisis, will be part of the new group.

Ms Barra insisted that it was no reflection on the company's handling of the crisis that it had recalled the affected vehicles in three batches - two in February and a third in March.

"It was the technical analysis," she said, of what had prompted the recalls. "It was understanding, adding all the vehicles together and understanding."

GM hired Anton Valukas, a former lawyer, to probe the precise series of events and conduct an internal investigation into the delayed recall.

The company last week announced it was suspending two engineers while the investigation continued.

Ms Barra said she had agonised over the suspensions.

But added: "We felt it was right for the engineers and the company at this time."

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