General Motors is expected to formally announce its first ‘full-year profit’ since 2004 on Thursday. It was just two years ago General Motors had to seek bankruptcy protection. Now, the automaker is expected to announce a 5 billion dollar profit for 2010.
Aaron Bragman is an automotive analyst with IHS Global Insight. He gives a big part of the credit to the federal government for helping GM through bankruptcy.
“I don’t think we’d be in the place where we’re at right now if the government had not intervened and actually funded their bankruptcy. We’d be in a very different place.”
Bragman says 2011 might be another good year for GM, because of rising gasoline prices.
“Chevy is bringing several small vehicles to market. The new Spark is on the horizon. The new (Sonic) is coming this year. So we’re actually seeing a lot of these small cars coming…and now we’re seeing a market force that may actually drive people to go an buy them.”
Bragman says high gasoline prices may hurt Chrysler, because it doesn’t have as many high- mileage vehicles to offer car buyers.
