STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's look at the aftermath of a slow moving transportation disaster. It's the defective ignition switch installed in millions of GM automobiles over many years. Before GM recalled it, the switch was linked to at least 13 deaths and many injuries. And if you're the new head of General Motors, you'd really prefer your company would be known for something else. Questioned by Congress, CEO Mary Barra said she's leading a new GM, different and better than the old one.
NPR's Sonari Glinton took that claim out for a spin.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: I was going to start this story with a little montage of GM's CEO, Mary Barra, testifying before Congress. It turns out "Saturday Night Live" did a parody version for me, which is pretty spot on.
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KATE MCKINNON: (As Mary Barra) I can't speak to how the old GM would handle an issue like this. I can only speak to how the new GM would handle it. Okay. It's actually the new GM starting now. The first rule in new GM is you never talk about old GM.
GLINTON: And the question is, exactly how new is the new GM? So we're going to slice the company into four parts. Let's start with the actual products they produce, the cars, and who's better to tell us about that than the director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, Jake Fisher. So how new is the new GM?
JAKE FISHER: The new GM is extremely different from the GM from before. When we look at the products, the ones that have come out in post-bankruptcy have been far better in performance than what we saw before.
GLINTON: That's saying a lot because Consumer Reports and Fisher have not been historically fans of General Motors. Fisher says GM is kind of haunted by sort of zombies of GM past, cars that are still in production that were designed before bankruptcy.
FISHER: Right. These are new vehicles that are right at the top. So when I look at large cars, the Impala, it's the best car. Not the best American, but the best car in that category. So when you look at those other vehicles that have been around for longer, they're kind of mid-pack. They're not at the top like the new ones.
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GLINTON: Okay. Next up, let's talk to the balance sheet expert.
DAVID WHISTON: David Whiston, senior equity analyst, Morningstar. Question of how new is the new GM is complicated because in some ways it's quite new and better, and in some ways it's still the old bureaucracy.
GLINTON: Whiston says the company has embarked on several key reforms that should make it more profitable. He says the different divisions are more integrated. For instance, they take the architecture for one car and then sell it around the globe.
WHISTON: That should lead to a lot more economies of scale, a lot less waste. They're going to save hundreds of millions in logistics costs by having more of their parts plants and whatnot and having them actually be right next to the assembly plant, rather than, say, a thousand miles away.
GLINTON: Whiston says even if the company gets fined by the government - there are lawsuits and the recall costs billions - the company has the money to cover the losses.
WHISTON: That's a lot of money so there's a lot of uncertainty, and Wall Street hates uncertainty.
GLINTON: Now to the sort of structure of the company, I turn to Stephanie Brinley, who's an analyst with IHS Automotive. How different of a culture are you seeing with General Motors now than in the past? Is there a difference?
STEPHANIE BRINLEY: And especially when you take it out to a really long time period, and you say 20 years, there is less arrogance within the company. They're more responsive.
GLINTON: Brinley says the company tended to be more cost-conscious and less attuned to the whims of consumers.
BRINLEY: Where there were points in their history where sort of the cost accountants had stepped in and said we can't quite spend that much money on some sort of thing.
GLINTON: Now the final thing to look at is image. How new is GM's image? After weeks of controversy, investigations, congressional testimony, jokes and bad press, that's the old part of GM that seems like it's going to stick around quite a while. Sonari Glinton, NPR News.
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