Barra makes case for GM to lead the future of cars, but the market isn’t buying

Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Co (centre), at the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement signing ceremony in Washington, DC, United States, Jan 29. — Bloomberg

General Motors Co started off Feb 5 by saying it can sustain profit even as the global car market slumps. That briefly buoyed investors, who pushed shares up about 3% in early trading.

Then came the hard part: getting the market to buy in to GM’s case that it’s making a total transformation from car company to technology leader. Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra’s team spent the next four hours at GM’s Capital Markets Day event making a full-throated pitch that it’s prepared for the electric, self-driving era.