General Motors a ‘powerhouse’ with bright future: Bob Lutz, vice chairman GM

According to General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz post-bankruptcy, General Motors was a ''powerhouse'' of an automaker with a bright future and the capacity to achieve rich profits.

"There were times in the past year or 18 months when it became perilously close to being over for GM but now, as this new decade begins, our future ain't what it used to be because it is in fact much, much brighter," Lutz said at the Detroit auto show.

"The new GM, in my view, is a powerhouse."

According to Lutz, the company had exited bankruptcy protection last year with drastically reduced fixed costs, an "essentially debt-free balance sheet," and a "new and more competitive labour situation". Additionally it now has an "outstanding", more focused product portfolio after it dropped four of its eight brands.

He added that it was like the phoenix rising from the ashes because it was the first time when it could deploy the full power of GM without the burden of all the legacy costs and the crushing debt load. He said the company was now under a new ownership and in a much healthier state.

He said that given its depth of engineering experience the company would lead in the development of alternative technologies such as electric and hydrogen powered vehicles.