Barra’s Strategy for GM: Stay the Course

Mary Barra says her mission as General Motors Co.'s new CEO will be to pick up where retiring CEO Dan Akerson left off.

"There is no right or left turn that we're going to be making," she tells reporters. Instead, she vows to accelerate Akerson's strategies, which have guided the company to a spectacular financial and product rebound following its emergence from bankruptcy in 2009.

Last year under Ackerson's leadership GM emerged from partial ownership by the U.S. government, rolled out a slew of successful models, increased global sales nearly 5% and began to regain investment-grade ratings.

Now, Barra says, GM will move beyond proving its post-bankruptcy viability to focus on accelerated growth and market leadership. She says Dan Ammann, who was promoted to president from CFO this month, will concentrate on faster sharing of cost-saving and profit-generating ideas.