DETROIT – GM’s strong-fourth quarter profit could mean good news for the automaker’s employees.
The year 2020 was hard, but GM left the year with impressive earnings, beating Wall Street expectations. The pandemic didn’t hurt the automaker as badly as anticipated.
READ: Despite COVID pandemic, GM bounces back with strong 4Q profit
When the auto plants shut down in 2020, there were real concerns the damage would be devastating, but when the final numbers were put together, GM came out successful and the bonus checks are going to be big.
GM made nearly $4 billion in the last quarter of 2020 and $10 billion for the entire year. Despite the pandemic, it made more money in 2020 than it did in 2019.
Autotrader analyst and Cox Automotive automotive relations director Michelle Krebs said the numbers were a pleasant surprise.
“It’s been absolutely remarkable how the auto industry has rebounded and how well GM has done through this,” Krebs said.
READ: GM 2020 profit drops, but it makes $6.43B despite pandemic
Though things looked bleak in Spring 2020, in looking at the numbers, Krebs said GM couldn’t have timed its product roll outs any better.
“Everybody’s buying SUV’s and trucks and guess what, GM introduced a whole family of full size SUV’s,” Krebs said. “They can’t keep them on the dealer lots.”
United Auto Workers members are expected to receive $9,000 bonuses -- about a grand more than the received in 2019.
“This is a negotiated benefit,” said UAW president Rory Gamble. “I’m happy the membership is getting a $9,000 check. That’s one of the benefits of being in a union, it’s a benefit they can deliver.”
GM warned this might not be smoothing sailing yet due to a semiconductor shortage that is forcing automobile production cuts. The automaker is using the semiconductors on the vehicles that sell more so that the underselling vehicles are produced at a lower volume without the semiconductors, which would be replaced later.
More: Auto News