Autoline #1513: Turnaround


Mar 24 2011 26 mins  
Turnaround

If you happen to be in a jazz band, a turnaround -- chords that take you back to an earlier part of the song -- is something easy that you do all the time. If you're an executive in the auto industry, a turnaround is a massive undertaking with no guarantee of success. Welcome to Mark Reuss' world.

As a GM legacy, Mark's father Lloyd was president of General Motors in the early '90s, he witnessed the ups and downs of this automotive giant from a closer vantage point than others. As the boss' son and then an employee, he rode the company roller coaster like everyone else until, as a corporate executive, he was there when they finally ran out of track and declared bankruptcy.

But since that point the GM turnaround has taken hold. And as head of North America, earlier this year Mark's operation helped GM achieve its largest profit since 2004. There's still a lot more work to be done but things are back on the right track...and right now there's plenty of it. This week on Autoline, GM's Mark Reuss joins John McElroy and his panel to discuss GM, its brands and where it goes from here.