GM's plans to re-enter Europe rest on electric cars, CEO Barra says

General Motors can re-enter the European market as an electric-vehicle focused company, GM CEO Mary Barra said, even though she has no “seller’s remorse” about divesting Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group in 2017.

Barra made the comments at the Milken Institute’s global conference this month Los Angeles.

“About five years ago we sold our Opel business to what is now Stellantis, and we have no seller’s remorse from an internal-combustion business,” she said, “but we can re-enter Europe as an all-EV player, and I’m looking forward to that,” she told Brian Sullivan of CNBC at the conference.

Barra and Carlos Tavares, the CEO of PSA at the time and now head of Stellantis, engineered the $2.2 billion sale of GM’s European business following years of losses. Under PSA, and now Stellantis, Opel has return to profitability through integration of development, production and back-office operations.

GM did not fully exit Europe after the Opel sale, retaining a headquarters in Zurich and selling a small number of Cadillacs (mostly the XT4 crossover) and the Chevrolet Corvette and Camaro. Last year there were about 500 of each brand sold in Europe, according to JATO Dynamics.

GM signaled its intentions last year to play a larger role in Europe.

In November, the automaker said it was appointing Mahmoud Samara, a Cadillac sales executive, as president and managing director of GM Europe.  

“His mission is to transform our current operations into a nontraditional mobility start-up in the region,” GM said, adding, “We will make very deliberate decisions about where and how we compete in Europe.”

Samara is based in Zurich and reports to Shilpan Amin, senior vice president and president GM international.

A GM Europe spokesman said by email on Wednesday that the automaker would communicate more details about its revamped operations in Europe.

“Together with his team at our headquarters in Zurich, he is preparing this launch, leveraging the new initiatives and technologies that GM is providing for global growth opportunities,” the spokesman said about Samara.  

Samara has led much of Cadillac's transition to electric vehicles last year. He said Europe's growing electric vehicle market presents a significant opportunity as GM rolls out its EV and autonomous-vehicle portfolio.

"Over the coming months, our team will develop our plans to bring our best products and services to customers in Europe," he said in a statement last year. “Our business will span the major markets in Europe.”

“We have big aspirations in Europe, as it is the second largest and fastest growing EV market,” he added, noting that GM is investing $35 billion in electric cars and batteries worldwide.