- The Detroit automaker’s innovation division has identified $1.3 trillion in new market opportunities that it believes complements its core business.
- GM’s majority-owned autonomous vehicle unit Cruise is vying for what executives say could be an $8 trillion market in the future.
- The company’s also dipping its toes into urban air mobility, which it predicts will be a more than $1 trillion market of its own.
DETROIT — Since taking over the helm of General Motors in 2014, CEO Mary Barra has meticulously cut costs, slashed about 64,000 jobs, exited unprofitable markets overseas and audaciously pledged to make GM an all-electric auto company by 2035.
Though controversial at times, each of those decisions took GM one step closer to where it is today: poised for growth in new markets.
Barra’s GM looks vastly different from the one she inherited out of the financial crisis. Leveraging its core business, GM is targeting trillions in future markets that stretch far beyond just selling cars and trucks.
“This is just the beginning for the next generation of General Motors,” Barra told investors Wednesday during GM’s first-quarter earnings call. “We are well on track with our plans to transform our company and lead the industry into the future.”
Leading much of the expansion is GM’s global growth and innovation team. New businesses from the team have included electric commercial vehicles, auto insurance, military defense and expanding services of its connected OnStar brand, with more new ventures on the way.
