GM will be executing on its EV ambitions in 2024, says CEO Mary Barra

By Brian Sozzi, Yahoo Finance executive editor

Decades of climbing the ladder while challenging conventional thinking have brought Mary Barra to the present — the year of delivering on ambitious EV goals at storied automaker General Motors (GM).

"I think in 2024, this is a year of of execution," GM's longtime chair and CEO said in a new episode of Yahoo Finance's Lead This Way. "I think it's a big year."

It certainly feels like it on a rainy day in late January, just miles outside of Detroit.

Barra spent half the day with me touring a new Warren, Mich., production facility that's hand-making $300,000-plus Cadillac Celestiq EVs, which can be customized down to the stitching on the seats. These are some of the most expensive automobiles GM has ever made, and they don't even have a gas tank.

The operation is impressively detailed from start to finish, as is the futuristic take on GM's famed luxury brand Cadillac.

As for the other part of the day, Barra took me for a spin in the new Corvette E-ray hybrid — the American icon's first hybrid.

The supercar features an electric motor paired with a rear-mounted V8, giving it over 650 horsepower. Barra signed off on moving the engine from the front to rear several years back to better compete on performance with the likes of Ferrari (RACE) and Lamborghini.

It was a classic play from the Barra leadership playbook: bold but respectful of GM's history.

"I can't take all the credit [for the engine move]," Barra said from behind the wheel of the E-ray, heaping praise on the veteran gearheads in Corvette's development team.

General Motors chair and CEO Mary Barra tours an EV production facility in Warren, Mich., with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi. (Yahoo Finance)

Inside the leadership climb

Following in her father's footsteps (he was a die maker at GM's now-defunct Pontiac badge), Barra, 62, began her journey inspecting fenders at a Pontiac plant at age 18.

She went onto graduate from the General Motors Institute in 1985, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering.

From there, her career path was as curvy as a country road — with stints in communications, marketing, and manufacturing.

It's these connections to the company's history and operations that have given Barra a lot of credibility among the rank and file — something easily seen during our factory walk in Warren.

Auto industry experts say Barra's intricate knowledge of GM's business has helped develop a balanced, gaffe-free leader that's widely respected.

"She's got a style of leadership that's a little bit maybe steadier and less prone to controversy than some of the others," Sean Tucker, senior news editor at Cox Automotive, told Yahoo Finance.

Altogether, Barra has drawn upon her rich experience to navigate a host of tricky situations since she was announced as CEO on Dec. 10, 2013 — the first woman to hold the top spot at a Big Three automaker.

They have ranged from apologizing to victims of a faulty ignition switch early on in her tenure to contending with a prickly President Trump tweeting about the company during COVID to more recently dealing with UAW negotiations and an autonomous Cruise vehicle that fatally injured a pedestrian.

Equally as tricky — pivoting GM to electric vehicles against a backdrop of range anxiety, fierce competition, and still relatively high prices for the technology. Between 2020 and 2025, GM plans to invest $35 billion in electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle product development, exceeding its gas and diesel spend.