General Motors Co.’s share price up, CEO Barra makes a team to focus on vehicles safety, sees crisis as “catalyst for change”

The Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Co. – Ms. Mary Barra – said that she intends to create a team of experts in order to make General Motors vehicles absolutely safe. In the light of recent massive recalls due to ignition-switch problems, Ms. Barra promised to shift the companys focus to the new vehicles that are yet to come. The CEO reassured reporters that she intends to make the best of the safety recalls and called the crisis “a catalyst for change”.

The Chief of product development Mr. Mark Reuss will hold the control over the new global product integrity organization that is to be created. Ms. Barra also explained that the team included in the organization will be led by the current Vice President for vehicle safety – Mr. Jeff Boyer.

Mr. Mark Reuss commented the companys new initiative in a Wall Street Journal interview: “We have pulled the wagon a long way, and we are not about to give up right now. We have to power through this and we will. As far as the integrity team, this is a long time coming, but the market has changed and we have to change.”

In addition, Ms. Barra, who was forced to take the helm in quite hard time for the company, explained that General Motors Co. is now focused on the quality of the products provided by the car manufacturer and customers satisfaction after the companys survival issues have faded away.

This was one of the first appearance of the Chief Executive Officer after the seriousness of the safety crisis became obvious last month. About 2.6 million vehicles were withdrawn by General Motors Co. due to defective ignition switches, which were thought to have become the reason for 12 death cases with companys vehicles.

As reported by Bloomberg, General Motors Co.s said at the New York International Auto Show: “This new organization will build on the formula and specific actions we have taken in recent years” in order to make the companys vehicles the best of the best. She added: “We will mirror this approach to focus on safety performance.”

General Motors Co. rose 2.49% to settle at $33.36 per share yesterday, capping a one-year change of +15.39%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 18 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co. have a median target of 45.00, with a high estimate of 50.00 and a low estimate of 32.00. The median estimate represents a +34.89% increase from the last price of 33.36.