Profits for automaker General Motors more than doubled in second quarter 2016, reaching a record US$2.87 billion.
The results were Detroit-based GM’s best for any quarter since it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2009.
“This was an outstanding quarter for GM,” chairman and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “Our results were generated by strong retail sales in the U.S., record sales in China, and a continued emphasis on improving performance of our operations worldwide.”
In North America, the automaker earned US$3.6 billion before taxes; it also made US$100 million in Europe, its first profit that region since the second quarter of 2011.
The only money-losing region was South America where GM lost $100 million, about the same as a year earlier.
In China GM reported equity income of US$500 million from its joint ventures. Sales of those joint ventures increased 11.8 per cent from the second quarter of 2015.