General Motors has seen better years. Despite the recall of more than 30 million defective vehicles in 2014, General Motors posted a revenue increase of 155.4 to $155,900,000,000 between 2013 and 2014, according to figures Wednesday, February 4th. One year previous, GM posted profits of $1 billion. Now compare that to this year, where they reached $2.8 billion. This 26% marks a rise for the #1 in the US and #3 in the world with 9.9 million vehicles sold.
The guys at GM can thank the important provisions taken by their company. It’s remarkable that the group was able to score this type of figure despite the recalls. The specific defect in question was an ignition switch where certain circumstances meant the broken switch would prevent the airbags from deploying. Proving this malfunction cost more than $400 million in lawsuits brought on by families of accident victims. The manufacturer created a compensation fund for the families of victims. 
What didn’t help the lawsuits was GM’s admittance to being aware of the problem, and noting the first sightings all the way back to 2003 with the failure of the ignition switch. GM was then subject to a criminal investigation, faced with complaints from all over the United States. They had to commit $1 billion to restructure its operations in Europe and Latin America. Due of these charges, profits were obviously taking a hit and GM was down year after year by more than $2 billion, maxing at a $6.5 billion deficit.
The business in North America and China looked shaky, and competitors weren’t resting. Like its American competitors, GM generated high profits in North America, where it still generates the bulk of its profits. Similarly, in Asia, particularly in China, they sold 3.2 million vehicles in 2014; the manufacturer made $1.2 billion in profits, which was as much as in 2013.
Europe isn’t left out of the equation either. So the American competition, Ford and Chrysler FIAT Automobiles, the group continued to suffer in Europe, where they accumulated $1.3 billion in losses, half just to restructure its operations. GM had to close plant in Germany, recall of the Chevrolet brand, and worse, coming to $500 million in losses 2013.
While things may be looking partially up in Western and Central Europe, Russia and Latin America haven’t quite recovered, if the situation was ever all that good to begin with. But in the case of Latin America, most US and European manufacturer struggles to really get ahead. And there were reported losses of around $180 million in 2014, against a profit of 327 million the previous year for GM.
GM executive director Mary Barra stated in mid-January, ahead of analysts, that the group would is going to essentially plow forward and try to be the most valued company in these areas. Kind of like what every CEO says in a position like this. The manufacturers all expect increases in operating profits, pushing influence on their key markets. Each company is looking towards investments, hoping they pay off. Everyone is equally shocked when something is a failure and falls through, and equally quick to say their brilliance paid off when there’s a success.