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GM CEO-designate Mary Barra starts with a truck
James R. Healey, USA TODAY 10:14 p.m. EST January 12, 2014
Incoming CEO of GM, first-ever female to lead a major automaker, debuts the Canyon pickup.
GM CEO-designate gets first taste of media madhouse at intro of GMC Canyon
She rolled out Canyon ahead of the Detroit auto show, gave boiler-plate replies to throngs of reporters afterwards, then left the building
Canyon joins midsize Chevy Colorado in showrooms late this year; Barra takes GM's corner office Jan. 20
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DETROIT — General Motors' CEO-designate Mary Barra hosted her first giant product introduction here Sunday night, unveiling the 2015 GMC Canyon midsize pickup with a boast that it's so impressive, it'll make the minuscule small-truck market grow.
The Canyon, which goes on sale later this year with corporate companion Chevrolet Colorado, has "style, refinement and capability," she said, so will appeal to shoppers who didn't even realize they wanted such a vehicle.
GM says that, contrary to consensus, midsize-truck buyers have incomes similar to big-truck buyers, and many will prefer the smaller models because they're easier to park, use less fuel, will be priced lower and can carry close to as much as full-size models.
The midsize — formerly compact — pickup segment accounted for just 240,000 sales all of last year, about the capacity of an auto plant running two shifts. Two-thirds of those sales went to the Toyota Tacoma, so the Canyon's and Colorado's ability to expand the demand for midsize pickups is key to their success.
MORE: GMC midsize Canyon pickup debuted in Detroit
It's also the only way those two won't swipe sales from the recently redesigned, full-size GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Colorado, which are significant moneymakers for GM.
Barra, selected last month to replace CEO Dan Akerson on Jan. 20, said the Canyon and Colorado amount to the beginning of a GM "product onslaught."
She was on stage at the Russell Industrial Center here only as long as it took to make more-or-less expected comments about the new truck and hand the stage over to Mark Reuss, who replaces her as GM's global product chief.
The industrial center was designed by Albert Kahn and originally built auto bodies. It now provides studios and lofts for artists and space for special events.
MORE: Mercedes, Audi, Volvo show off new SUVs in Detroit
The real action for Barra came when she left the stage and was mobbed by reporters and camera operators in what was one of the most furious "scrums" at an auto press conference in a long time. The impromptu session was cacophonous, and she provided what seemed like scripted answers to a variety of questions and made no comments on substantive issues, such as whether GM plans to resume paying dividends to its stockholders.
Barra is in the spotlight because she's the first woman named to run a big auto company. GM's Detroit-based rivals Ford Motor and Chrysler Group have ranking female executives, but none who are a nod by the board of directors away from the corner office.
Barra joined GM as an intern in 1980 and has worked for the automaker her whole career. Akerson said when she took the global product chief's job, she stepped into a confused nightmare, and put it right better and faster than expected.
GM to pay new CEO Barra $1.6M in base salary
General
Motors Co. says new CEO Mary Barra will get a base salary of $1.6
million per year as she takes over the global automaker.
GM said in a filing on Friday that Barra will also be eligible for $2.8 million in short-term incentives.
Her
pay would climb further if GM shareholders approve a new long-term
incentive plan at their next annual meeting. Stock and option awards
make up the bulk of CEO pay at GM and many other publicly traded
companies.
Dan Akerson, who
retired as CEO Wednesday, had total 2012 pay of more than $11 million.
That included a base salary of $1.7 million and $9.3 million in stock
awards.
The federal government
limited executive pay at GM after the Detroit company took bailout
money in 2008 and 2009. But those restrictions are gone after the
government sold the last of its General Motors Co. stock on Dec. 9.
Barra
started as CEO on Wednesday. She has worked at GM since she was 18, and
got an engineering degree from what was then known as General Motors
Institute. Most recently she held what is widely considered to be the
most important job at GM: Senior vice president for global product
development. She has also been a plant manager, executive director of
engineering and head of human resources.
GM
said Friday that it expects Akerson will work continue to work there
for less than a year, with prorated pay. He will get up to $4.7 million
per year as a senior adviser, including a cash salary of $1.7 million.
GM
is also paying former vice chairman Stephen Girsky, who remains on the
company's board, to work as a senior adviser. He's getting a cash salary
of $600,000 and up to $750,000 in short-term incentives.
Shares of General Motors fell 46 cents to $38.54 in late afternoon trading.
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