GM reports second quarter loss

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 20 Jul 2005 17:44

General Motors Corp. lost $286 million in the second quarter of 2005, missing Wall Street forecasts by a large margin.

"Our second quarter results reflect a mix of some important pluses and minuses," said GM chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner. "On the positive side, sales were up in all regions and global market share increased. But, importantly, on the minus side, GM North America's financial performance continued to be very disappointing."

Profitable results in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East mitigated the $1.19 billion loss in North America.

The company's poor performance in North America is attributed to reduced production to compensate for an excess of inventory early in the year, slow truck and sport utility vehicle sales, and GM's legacy of crippling health care costs.

The situation is likely to get worse before it gets better, however. Third quarter results are historically the worst for automakers because that is when costs associated with new model conversions hit the books.

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