General Motors Co. share price up, recalls more than 1.5 million vehicles

Ms. Mary Barra – the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Co., which is the largest car manufacturer by sales in North America, announced three new safety recalls for more than 1.5 million vehicles, including some current models. She also explained that the company will do everything possible in order to change the way it manages and takes care of recalls in an attempt to improve its reputation. General Motors Co. revealed that the withdrawal came as a result to Ms. Barras decision for a “comprehensive internal safety review”.

More than 1.5 million vehicles are involved in the latest withdrawals made by the company. The recall includes about 1.18 million sports utility vehicles (mainly Buick Enclaves and GMC Acadias), 303 000 of the GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express vans and 63 900 Cadillac XTS sedans.

Ms. Barra made a personal note published in a video on the website of General Motors Co., which was addressed to regulators, customers, investors and lawmakers. The Chief Executive Officer of the company tried to explain that the company is currently facing corporate processes that were the reason why it failed to respond on time.

Ms. Barras note was cited by the Wall Street Journal: “As a member of the GM family and as a mom with a family of my own, this really hits home for me. The bottom line is we will be better because of this tragic situation if we seize the opportunity.” She added: “Something went wrong with the process and terrible things happened. We are using this opportunity change much more about our business. We are redoubling our pending product reviews, bringing them forward and resolving them quickly.”

As reported by the Financial Times, Ms. Barra also said: “We are conducting an intense review of our internal processes and will have more developments to announce as we move forward.”

The company has been facing difficulties after recalling almost 800 000 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models. Only a few days after that lawyer Lance Cooper claimed in a letter to government regulators that there were more vehicle models of General Motors Co. with defects. Then the company more than doubled its withdrawals, including Saturn Ion and Pontiac Solstice models.

However, General Motors Co. emphasized on the fact that none of the latest defects is connected to the recall in February, which included older compact cars manufactured between 2002 and 2007.

General Motors Co. rose by 1.58% in New York on Monday to close the session at $34.63 per share, marking a one-year change of +23.50%. The company is valued at $55.05 billion. According to CNN Money, the 17 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co. have a median target of $47.00, with a high estimate of $52.00 and a low estimate of $35.00. The median estimate represents a +35.72% increase from the last price of 34.63.